


Tale of the Setting Sun

by PKSamurai



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Gen, Smart Uzumaki Naruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 09:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 100,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13679115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PKSamurai/pseuds/PKSamurai
Summary: Naruto was born with hair as red as his mother's, but with a face and intellect that paralleled his father, the Fourth Hokage. Will the revolution he brings be the world's salvation or destruction?(Crossposting from FFN)





	1. Hope and Ambition

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposting from FFN. Originally published 01-30-13.

By the time Uzumaki Naruto had turned five years old, he had come to realize that a good majority of the people in his village hated him.

It was not an immediate realization: As the haze of colors and sounds called infancy slowly but inevitably passed, he first came into the awareness of his individuality. Looking down at his stubby toes and observing how they wriggled at his every command, he saw that he was his own person – his body and mind belonged to him and only him, and as far as he could tell, every other person that he saw possessed this right. All of the people in his village were the same as him in this regard.

However, he gradually began to see differences between these other people and himself. When Naruto first visited the village playground at the age of four, he saw many other children running around in the dust. Another young boy was chasing them making threatening sounds, and Naruto felt rather frightened – however, the other children were laughing as if they were having fun. When he asked another child what was going on, he looked at Naruto strangely and asked him if he'd never played 'tag' before.

When Naruto returned to his home that evening and asked his caretaker – a stern-faced woman with dark hair – about the game, she merely slammed a bowl of rice down on his table and told him to stay away from the other children. He didn't understand why the other children could play 'tag' together and why he couldn't, but his caretaker's hand was even faster and sharper than her words, so he shut up and ate his dinner.

But from then on, though he didn't approach the other children, Naruto did start going out more by himself. He was starting to get sick of the tattered book of folk tales that he had thumbed through since he was two, and felt that he was a bit too old for the cracked old wooden blocks he'd once fondly stacked for hours before. He was a whole five years old, after all. And besides, he quite enjoyed the feel of the sun and wind on his skin.

The few times Naruto had been out in public before, he had usually been with his caretaker, who always insisted on him covering his head and lower face with a scarf. She'd told him it was so that he wouldn't pick up any diseases, but now that he was exploring the streets of his village, he was beginning to have second thoughts.

Because wherever he went, inevitably, he was followed by an intense storm of heated whispering. He hadn't realized at first; even following the realization of his individuality, he'd never thought of himself as particularly unique. He'd read before in his book of folk tales that no two snowflakes were alike; and as such, so were people. But in the winter, when snow covered the village, there were so many snowflakes that he couldn't possibly distinguish between them. This, he realized could be the same for himself, and for everyone else.

And yet somehow, these people managed to point him out – a single snowflake in a flurry of snow. They pointed him out with barely disguised grimaces, they ushered their children away from him, admonishing them for walking too close to him, and chased him out of their stores.

The first time this happened, Naruto wondered if they wanted to play 'tag' with him and was about to open his mouth to ask...when they slammed the door in his face, sending dust flying in his face. Before he could get up, he heard a spitting sound, and he felt a warm sensation on his face. When he touched his face and looked at his hand, it was wet.

He immediately returned to his home afterwards. Ignoring the dinner his caretaker had left out on the table, Naruto crawled into his bed with the lights off and the blinds to his window closed shut. He stared into the darkness for the rest of the day, trembling.

All of the following days that he went outside ended quite similarly. As time went on, even the other children began to notice him – and unlike the adults, they went out of their way to taunt him.

Naruto observed this all and every night, stared into the darkness. After the initial shock had worn off, he began to ponder his situation, trying to find an answer to the question of why he, as an individual, was targeted in such a manner. He wondered if it was because of his appearance; after all, when he ventured outside with his scarf on, nobody treated him like an aberration, or even worse, pretend he didn't exist. If they accidentally bumped into him they apologized, and if he bumped into someone, they pet his head when he apologized.

Recently, some of the other children had started to call him 'tomato-head' because of the shock of red hair that framed his thin face, but he did not think that could be why he was singled out so much. He had examined his features quite closely at one point; his hair color was a bit unusual, but he had seen others with brightly colored hair in the playground quite a few times, and nobody ever glared at them or said unkind things to them. He had blue eyes, a quite ordinary trait, and though he was a bit small for his age, he was in no way deformed. He had counted carefully: He had one head, a face with all of its features, two arms, hands, and feet, and ten fingers and toes, just like every other child (some of the adults sometimes were missing a finger or a limb). In fact, the only really unique thing about him was the pair of faint whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks.

Naruto had noticed that some of the village clans, like the Inuzuka clan, had physical markers for their members. So sometimes, he liked to sit in front of a mirror and imagine what it'd be like to have other people who had bright red hair and whisker marks on their faces. And then inevitably, his thoughts would turn to his dead parents.

He knew that he was an orphan, and that they had died on the same day he was born; his caretaker had told him that much. His situation was fairly common following the Third Shinobi World War and the attack of the Nine-tails: His apartment was not too far from the orphanage, which teemed with children. In fact, Naruto hadn't even realized that he didn't have parents until he saw for the first time an adult picking up one of the children at the playground.

Looking into the darkness, his thoughts unimpeded by jeers and glares, Naruto eventually came to a conclusion. Having compared his behavior to that of other children, he knew that he himself could not be at fault for the behavior of the village people towards him. He never asked for anything that he didn't need, he ate (almost) all of his vegetables, and he always obeyed his caretaker.

He briefly wondered whether he was just ugly, but upon hesitantly asking his caretaker, she'd snorted and told him to stop asking her stupid questions and to finish his soup. So Naruto finished his soup, and after tossing and turning in bed that night, decided he couldn't control whether he was ugly or not, and anyone who thought otherwise – well  _they_ were the stupid ones.

Despite his brave thoughts however, Naruto didn't go out the following morning, and instead remained curled up in his bed. By the time he finally got up and pulled up the blinds, the afternoon sun was high in the sky. As the summer glow warmed his face, Naruto dully listened to the sounds of the village people passing by below, the chatter of their daily life resounding in his ears.

"...pick up some eggs from the market..."

"...won't step a foot in the library, you know..."

"...he's gone for a week to Sand country..."

Naruto's eyes flew open.  _Sand country?_

While he knew that he lived in Konoha, the Hidden Village of Fire country, the thought that there were other countries had never occurred to him. Yet thinking about it now, it seemed such an obvious thing. He'd never left the village himself, but he'd seen the gates opening and closing many times, and seen the travelers and merchants streaming in and out. Though the small glimpses of the outside he'd managed to get through the gates showed only a forest, he realized now, those people must have been headed  _somewhere_.

It was then that a sudden terrible – amazing – alien thought came to him:  _Maybe, he could join them._

It'd never even been a possibility to Naruto before, but he felt himself quickly warming up to the idea. Since the people in his village didn't want him...yes, why not? Maybe he could just  _leave_. A faint shadow of himself began to play before his eyes. He could imagine it: An older version of himself stepping with confidence through the gates and traveling through the forest. After a while, he'd find another village and be welcomed with open arms and to the sound of cheers and...and, maybe he'd even find other people there with red hair and whiskers on their faces, and –

With a loud resounding sound, Naruto slapped his hands on his face. Furiously, he shook his head. He was being stupid. He was an orphan. He didn't have any family members elsewhere, his caretaker had made that clear enough. And if he was this hated in his own village, when he'd done nothing, what were the chances of his being accepted anywhere else?

Turning his back on the sun, Naruto let his face cool in the darkness. While it'd sounded like a great idea, maybe leaving the village wasn't the answer. But if that wasn't, then what was? Was there anything else he could do?

Sometimes, he wondered what it was like to walk outside in the sun without being jeered at. It would be nice, he thought, to not have to wear his scarf. And sometimes, when he saw the other children leaving the playground holding their parents' hands, something throbbed within his chest.

The leaves of the trees in the hills had long since turned orange and red, before the answer came to Naruto from a rather unexpected source. On the morning of his sixth birthday, he woke up to find the room cold and with no breakfast on the table. His caretaker had always made him three meals a day, washed the dishes after him, done his laundry, and cleaned his small apartment once a week. She'd never had a kind word for him (in fact, she'd rarely spoke to him at all) but she'd never made him starve before.

Blearily staring at the empty table as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, Naruto didn't notice the masked individual that suddenly appeared on the open window sill. Before he could do much else, the man had forcefully picked him up and jumped out the window.

At first, thinking that someone had finally decided to attack him in his home, he struggled in the strange man's grip, clawing at the man's chest. But he then realized that the man was wearing a porcelain animal mask and metal chest armor, and relaxed: As much as he was hated by the rest of the village, it was common knowledge that the strange animal mask men worked for the Hokage.

Sure enough, he was dumped unceremoniously into the Hokage's office. Naruto didn't remember ever having been in here before, but he could read the characters 'Hokage' on the desk in the middle, which's top was overflowing with stacks of paper and scrolls.

The Hokage himself stood before him. His aged countenance and wizened form almost belied the strong, unwavering eyes that observed him from below the white hat. Naruto quivered and began to look away, but unlike the villagers, the Hokage's gaze held no animosity or hatred. So he met the elder ninja's dark eyes with his own, and for a moment, he thought he might have seen a flicker of emotion within them.

But then it was gone, and he turned away.

Naruto learned several things that day. Though he'd never really thought about it before, he now learned that the Hokage had been his benefactor paying for his caretaker, and that now that he was six, she would no longer be coming by. He would receive a monthly stipend from the Hokage, but he would have to prepare his own meals and clean up after himself. And finally, he learned that he was to attend the Academy, starting immediately.

Running as fast as his legs could carry him back to his apartment, Naruto was so excited that for once, he didn't even notice the glaring that followed him. After all, the Academy was the holy grail for the children at the playground: Having a sibling in it gave you automatic bragging rights, and if you were going to be joining it yourself? Uncontested rights to the best swing, bar nothing.

For the first time in his life, he felt a rising airy sensation in his chest that he didn't know the word for.

However, that evening, Naruto watched the sun set from his window, and with the growing darkness, he began to feel a niggling sense of doubt. He'd never been allowed to join or be a part of anything before. Would attending the Academy really change anything for him? He'd always admired the ninja; their mystique and power made them just like the heroes of his childhood folk tales. But could he become like one of them? And if he did, would people stop hating him? ...Or was he doomed to be hated for the rest of his life?

His fingers, rested on the window sill, clenched into his palms, leaving behind red marks.

No, Naruto decided. None of that mattered. He would just become a ninja that they couldn't ignore or despise. He would become so great, his red hair or his whisker marks wouldn't matter. Whether they thought he was ugly or stupid – none of that would matter. He would become the most revered and respected ninja of Konoha. He would become Hokage.

Even if he couldn't own their bodies or their minds, he vowed, he would own their hearts.


	2. Loneliness

The next morning found Naruto scanning his own appearance before the mirror: If he was going to become Hokage, he knew he should at least have the ability to make a good first impression on his teacher and his classmates. Thankfully, his caretaker had at least done the laundry before she left; now, he was wearing his best (or rather, least threadbare) clothes.

His hair on the other hand, was a completely different story: It was a spiky red mane that hung down to his neck. Rolling a lock of the bright hair between his fingers, Naruto wondered if he should trim it. He glanced out his window, and let go of the lock. He could see the Hokage monument from his apartment, and if the busts were accurate, the Second, Third, and Fourth had all had rather crazy spiky hair. Clearly, their hair hadn't impeded their rise to the top, and he figured that his wouldn't either.

In fact, he thought in a passing way, the Fourth's hair even rather resembled his own.

Nevertheless, he dug out a brush that hadn't seen the light of day since it'd been bought, and dutifully tugged it through his hair. Finally, with one last check in the mirror – smoothening out a nonexistent crease in his shirt – he left his apartment and headed to the Academy.

Before he entered the building, Naruto paused and looked up at the circular sign that proudly hung in the niche above the doors. The character for 'shinobi' was emblazoned on it in bold ink, and he knew enough to know that it was made up by the separate characters of 'blade' and 'heart.' Together, it meant 'endure.' It seemed appropriate considering the goal that he had in mind. Tracing the character with a finger on his palm, he took a deep breath and stepped through the doors.

The classroom was large with a high ceiling, and filled with rows of desks, stacked in an increasing, rising order like a staircase. When Naruto walked in, following his new instructor – a man with an old scar across his face who had introduced himself as Umino Iruka – a palpable ripple of surprise swept through the room. The noise level in the class sharply dropped, as dozens of pairs of eyes turned to observe him. Naruto didn't meet any of their narrowed gazes, but stood awkwardly in front of the blackboard. Offhandedly, he realized that he recognized one of the faces that stared back at him: It belonged to the girl with the large forehead who he'd noticed getting picked on a few times in the playground.

"This is Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka introduced in a ringing voice. At the sound of his name, some of the children began to whisper amongst themselves. "He's six years old, and he'll be joining our class from today onwards, so make him feel welcome."

"I hope we can be friends," said Naruto, forcing the tips of his lips up into a smile. He'd never had much of a reason to make one before, but he had observed from afar how smiles could lower people's guards. He thought he heard some snickers and maybe even a muttered  _'tomato-head'_  but for the most part, the children only stared back at him sullenly.

Considering his introduction largely a success, Naruto found an empty seat next to another boy with a dark countenance, who idly rested his head on his hand.

It turned out that the class had been going over how to read and write several basic characters that he already knew, so for the first hour, Naruto had the unhindered liberty of observing his new instructor. Iruka had seemed courteous enough when he first introduced himself outside of the classroom, but he wondered what the chūnin truly thought of him.

Iruka certainly seemed jumpy about him; in the last ten minutes alone, his eyes had flickered four times over to where Naruto was sitting, and he had stumbled over his words each time. Judging by the sheen of his face, the man was sweating slightly as well, and Naruto had learned from first-hand experience that, if it wasn't from the heat, it indicated they were nervous.

From his brief personal interaction with the instructor, Naruto could already tell that Iruka was usually a proficient teacher. Discreetly looking around, every time Iruka fumbled over a sentence, he saw looks of puzzlement reflected on the faces of his classmates, confirming the fact. He returned his gaze to the chūnin just as the man in question looked up at Naruto, and their eyes met for a split second. Iruka gave no visible signs of reacting, and looked away almost immediately (mistakenly writing a different character on the blackboard as he did so).

But Naruto already knew. Though it was just the smallest glimmer, he had seen that same, strange look of fear and revulsion that everyone else in the village had whenever they saw him.

His spirits beginning to sink, he wondered whether he would be kicked out of the Academy after all.

After the lesson on reading and writing, the class moved on to chakra, and suddenly, Naruto found himself out of his depth. Apparently, there was something called a chakra point, and a person had three hundred-and-sixty-one of them. There was also something called hand seals, and the twelve basic ones were named after the horoscope animals. But not knowing what chakra itself actually was, Naruto could barely follow the discussion, let alone participate. From the sounds of it, it sounded like  _magic_ , but he'd always thought magic was mere fantasy. So what else could it be?

An hour of torture later, the class was over, and the students were given a short lunch break. As most of the other children filed out of the room, Naruto dawdled at his desk before approaching the instructor, who was flipping through a sheaf of papers on a clipboard.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto began in a low voice, looking down at the ground. Most adults didn't like it when he looked at them directly.

"Yes, Naruto?" He heard the rustle of paper above him. Iruka's tone was casual, but Naruto thought he could detect a note of tension.

"Could you tell me what chakra is?" When the man didn't answer right away, Naruto looked up and hurriedly added, "The discussion was very interesting, and I wanted to join in – but, I'm still not sure what it is, and where it comes from."

To his relief, Naruto observed some of the tension leave the instructor's face, though he still looked perplexed.

"Well Naruto, chakra is a form of energy that all living things have. The energy is a mold of physical and spiritual, and goes around your body in a network. We ninjas can use this chakra to perform techniques." Iruka paused, before adding, "Do you know what a technique is?"

Naruto shook his head no.

"A technique is a skill made possibly by chakra, with effects like walking on water, exhaling fire, and creating illusions. There are all kinds of techniques, such as ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and even the most basic one requires you to mold your chakra. Usually, techniques require a certain sequence of hand seals." To demonstrate, he put his two hands together and quickly made some signs. There was a burst of smoke, and suddenly, someone who looked exactly like Naruto was standing in front of him. Letting out a small exclamation of amazement, he stepped back. There was another burst of smoke, and Iruka was standing before him again. "That was the Transformation technique. It's one of the most basic ninjutsu techniques, and we'll be learning it when your class is a bit more advanced."

Eagerly, Naruto put his hands together and mimicked the man's hand signs. To his disappointment, nothing happened.

"Just doing the motions won't be enough, I'm afraid," said Iruka with a smile. Naruto's eyes widened at the sight, and the smile slid off of the man's face like sap. He coughed. "Well, off you go now."

Naruto left with his heart pounding. He couldn't remember anyone having ever smiled at him before. And unlike the smile he himself had given the class, this hadn't been an offering of goodwill – it had been the genuine article.

Feeling like a large burden had been removed from his shoulders, Naruto began to wander the village, looking for a place to eat that wouldn't chase him out. So long as he didn't get on Iruka's bad side, maybe he would be able to learn everything he wanted about being a ninja. And then, he would be that much closer to becoming the Hokage.

As Naruto passed by a small restaurant, a ninja with a face mask stepped out from under its flap. As the flap dropped down, the most hauntingly delicious aroma he had ever smelled came wafting out, freezing him in place. There was a big paper lantern hanging outside; it said "Ramen Ichiraku" in bold red characters.

As though entranced, before he knew it, he had lifted the flap and stepped in. Several of the villagers were already there, eating, and at his entry they looked up at him. Reacting on instinct, Naruto tensed, waiting for them to glare at him – but instead, their faces grew pale. Rising to their feet with a clatter, they all left in a hurry, leaving behind an array of empty stools.

Well, that was a new reaction: Even he'd never cleared a restaurant out like that before.

Feeling a chill run down his back, Naruto turned to the counter to find himself face-to-face with a stern-faced man in an apron. He waited for him to respond angrily, but instead, the man grunted, "What'll you have?"

Taken aback, Naruto's eyes flickered over to the menu and he stammered out the first item he saw: Miso ramen.

Less than ten minutes later, the most majestic bowl of noodles he had ever seen in his life was placed in front of him. Slowly, he raised his chopsticks to his mouth – and as warmth spread through his body, his chopsticks picked up in pace, and soon he was inhaling the rest of the bowl.

It was not too last, however. Hearing the stools beside him clattering once more, he looked up, and almost choked on a noodle: They were a rowdy group of children he recognized from his class at the Academy. Hunching over his bowl, he tried to shrink in on himself. But without his scarf, there was nothing to hide his hair.

"Well, what do you know! Hey look everyone, it's tomato-head!" said one of the boys, jumping up from his seat. His friends joined him, and they rapidly spread out around Naruto to surround him.

He said stiffly, "My name is Naruto."

"What was that tomato-head?" the boy said in a loud voice, cupping his ear as if he hadn't been able to hear him. When Naruto didn't respond, he dropped his hand and glanced over at his sniggering friends. "Nogi here says she heard you asking Iruka-sensei 'bout what chakra is."

"Yea, sensei couldn't believe it!" chortled a pudgy girl. "He told us after you left that you didn't know nothing and that," she sniffed, "we should help you out."

"Aww, does little baby need his diapers changed?" the boy crowed. He leaned over and swiped Naruto's bowl. "Does tomato-head want his mommy? Oh  _wait._ " He laughed and lifted the bowl to his lips. "You don't  _have one._ "

Blinking, Naruto watched the bully slurp up the remainder of his ramen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the owner of the restaurant was preoccupied with another customer.

"It's not nice to make fun of people about their parents," he finally said in a mild tone that belied the increasingly hot fire that burned in his belly.

"What would you know 'bout being nice? It's not like you ever had parents to teach you," scoffed a girl.

"My parents told me to stay away from you 'cos you're bad," added the boy with relish.

"I'm not bad!" gasped Naruto before he could stop himself.

"You are too!"

"No I'm not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too! Damn tomato-head! No one wants you here!" The boy lifted his hand up with the bowl still in hand. Not comprehending, Naruto watched dumbly as the bowl flew through the air and hit him on the chest with a crash, spilling cold liquid all over his best clothes.

" _ **Hey!**_ " The owner had finally noticed what was going on, but at the sound of his voice, the children all scrambled out, the restaurant's flaps swinging emptily in their wake.

Naruto stood frozen for a second, watching with wide eyes the oily liquid drip from the ends of his hair. There was a big black splotch now on his favorite orange shirt that he knew would never come out.

Regaining control of his body, he slowly bent over to pick up the bowl, which had thankfully not cracked. Placing it back on the counter, he hesitantly peeked up. The owner stared down at him with a twisted look he didn't understand, and flinching, he apologized, before lowering his head back down again. Putting some coins down on the counter, he left. Not daring to lift his head back up, he raced back to his home. Though no voices called out to him, the whole, long way back, he thought he could feel glares burning into his back.

Once he was home, Naruto robotically began to pull out some of his more worn spare clothes from the closet. All he could think about was how he had to quickly change and return to the Academy before the lunch break was over, or else he would get in trouble on his first day. If he was to become a great Hokage, he couldn't get kicked out.

It was only when he was zipping down his ruined hoodie that he noticed that his fingers were trembling. And then, as he wondered why they were doing that, he also realized that he had lost all strength in his legs. Letting out a small "oh!" he fell down on his knees in the dark room. Automatically hunching over on his hands, Naruto felt something warm and wet streak down the sides of his face and land with a plop on the floor.

In a detached sort of way, he realized with surprise that he was crying. He had observed before – from afar –people crying for a variety of reasons.

Sometimes, people, mostly children, cried when they weren't getting their way. Once, he'd seen a girl about his age burst into tears when her mother refused to buy her a stick of candy, and observed how the mother had given in. When he experimentally asked his caretaker to buy him a stick of candy, she'd wordlessly stared at him coldly, as though looking at a particularly disgusting insect on the backside of her sandal.

He'd never asked her for anything again after that.

Most of the time however, people cried because they were in pain or because they were sad. When a child fell over in the playground and began to cry, their mother or father would frantically look up at the sound of their voice, and run over. When they saw that the child had only scraped a knee, they would laugh in relief and place a band-aid over their injury. Then the child would feel magically better and go back to playing with their friends.

As he wondered which emotion he was feeling, Naruto began to feel even more strange. There was a hazy sensation creeping up his body and taking over. And then suddenly, against his will, he collapsed down completely with his face pressed against the ground. Someone was making a terrible moaning sound, and for several seconds, he listened in alarm as he looked for its source, before realizing that it was coming from himself.

A mixture of snot and tears was streaming down his face, and he began to worry about how he couldn't go back to the Academy with a splotchy face when suddenly, he realized that he didn't care.

He wasn't sure what this heaviness in his chest was, but he didn't want to feel it anymore. And if crying would help him lessen it, he would do it. After all, no one was there to hear him.

If he wanted to become a strong ninja, he knew he could never let anyone else see him crying, because the heroes in his book had never cried – but right now, he was alone in this cold, dark room.

 _Just this once_ , he thought, eyes squeezed shut and tears dripping from his nose.  _  
_

A cold and detached part of Naruto thought that he should be pleased to have this privacy. But at the same time, he had never felt so alone before. He felt like he was the only person in the world.


	3. Dream and Determination

"And the winner is...Sasuke!"

As the watching students cheered, Naruto, lying flat on his back, looked up at the sky. It was a nice day, he thought, with only a few clouds in the sky. After a few seconds passed, dredging up the last of his willpower, he clambered up to his feet, ignoring how sore his body felt. Brushing the dirt off of his pants, he walked to the edge of the wooden platform and leaped heavily down.

"The next bout will be between...Sakura and Ino!" He heard Iruka call out, and two squabbling girls jumped up to the platform.

"Nice one, Naruto," a boy called out. Without responding, Naruto passed him by, but not before he heard the boy add, "You lasted almost ten seconds up there!"

The children standing near them laughed, and feeling the tips of his ears beginning to burn, Naruto abruptly picked up pace and ran back inside the Academy building.

His footsteps pounded loudly through the hallway, and even though he knew he should be practicing how to run without making a sound, he couldn't bring himself to care. The door to his classroom opened with a clatter, and straining on his tip-toes, he grabbed his bag from his cubby near the end.

Naruto knew it was wrong to leave when Academy wasn't even over, but the only thing they were doing for the rest of the day was the one-on-one taijutsu fights. No one would notice him gone...except maybe Nogi and her friends, anyways.

Just as he neared the open doors to the front exit, Naruto heard the sound of adult conversation, and skidded to a halt. His heart pounding in his ears, he looked right and left, looking for a place to hide. As the sound grew closer and closer, he chose the first thing he'd noticed, dashing into the niche between the door and the wall.

"...the students coming along?"

"They're very promising. We're conducting this year's first taijutsu tournament today, and they're all performing excellently."

Naruto's eyes widened, as he recognized Iruka's voice. Hadn't he just been back at the arena? What was he doing here now? Had he noticed Naruto was gone?

Unable to put aside his rising curiosity, he put an eye to the crack of the door – and then seeing the person beside Iruka, he felt his heart skip a beat.

The Hokage was standing right in front of the very door he was now quivering behind.

"Ah, Fugaku's younger son is in your class, no? Quite precocious, isn't he?"

"Actually, while I'd hate to see him go, I think that if he continues to perform as well as he is doing now, transferring him to a more advanced class wouldn't be out of the question."

"They are brothers after all..." the Hokage chuckled. There was a short pause, as the Hokage seemed to be surveying the Academy building. For a horrifying instant, Naruto thought that the elderly ninja's gaze had paused on the sliver of his face, and had to fight the urge to run. But then he turned away, and Naruto felt some of the feeling begin to return to his face.

They resumed talking, but began to move away in the direction of where the other children were, and after a short while, Naruto finally came out from his hiding spot.

His head turning back and forth rapidly to survey the empty lot, Naruto ran as fast as he could, only coming to a stop when he reached the cover of a patch of trees. Panting, he rested for a few minutes against the trunk of a cherry blossom tree.

Two weeks had passed since he'd joined the Academy, and Naruto had quickly learned that it wasn't just basic ninja knowledge that he was behind in. Many of the other students were from clans or had ninja relatives, and they had been training since well before joining the Academy. It was all Naruto could do to keep up with the daily physical exercise, and he was completely out of his depth when it came to actual taijutsu. While the other children were flipping through the air and flowing from one stance to the next, Naruto was still struggling to follow along without landing flat on his back. He desperately needed more instruction, but Iruka only had so much time to spend on him before he had to move on to the other children.

Iruka had told Naruto and the few others who hadn't ever received training before that they would catch up soon, but lately, he hadn't been able to bring himself to even look up at the Academy sign.

He'd sworn to become Hokage, but the way he was now, he thought he'd be lucky to even graduate.

If only, Naruto thought. If only he had someone outside of the Academy to teach him. Then maybe he wouldn't be so behind...

He shook his head wildly. Jumping up to his feet, Naruto smacked his cheeks with his hands. If he had time to feel sorry for himself, he thought, he might as well spend it practicing.

Drawing himself up to his full height, he turned to face the tree he had been leaning against. Emptying his mind, he felt his body relax. Adjusting his footing and planting them firmly into the ground, he curled his hands into fists the way he'd learned in class – and then he punched his right fist into the empty air. Then, drawing that one back, he punched with his left fist. Right. Left. Right. Left.

Over and over, Naruto punched repeatedly into the air, pushing his body to remember the motion – until suddenly, he realized with a jolt, that several hours had passed: The sun had set, and the temperature had dropped.

He was rummaging through the bushes looking for his bag, when he heard the sound of footsteps and froze. Reacting on instinct, for the second time that day, Naruto ducked, trusting the shadows to complete his concealment.

To his dismay, the footsteps stopped at a place not too far from where he was hiding.

"This looks like a great place to talk, doesn't it, Izumo?" It was Iruka again, and compulsively, Naruto stepped back even further into the bushes' shadow.

"...sure?" It was an unfamiliar male voice this time. "What'd you want me for?"

"I was just thinking – it's a pity the Konoha Archive Library is closed to civilians, isn't it?"

"What? Of course it is. We wouldn't want sensitive village information falling into the hands of just anybody."

"But it's not just that, right? There's the jutsu section, with scrolls on taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu..."

"Well, yes. But civilians would just hurt themselves without formal instruction."

"But if that section was open to – say – Academy students, that'd help them with their studies, don't you think?"

"Are you feeling okay, Iruka?" The voice sounded annoyed. "Of course it's open to Academy students. Not that my little sister seems to care..."

"Oh yes, I forgot! They'll need an Academy instructor's permission for more advanced-level scrolls, but basic and fundamental scrolls are freely accessible to students. The Konoha Archive Library sure comes in handy. Don't you agree, Izumo?"

"What in the...wait...this is Kotetsu, isn't it?" said the other voice suspiciously. "Was that supposed to be your impression of Iruka? I'm right, aren't I?"

"Uh...ahaha yeah, you, you caught me."

"Absolutely terrible, man."

"I'm a bit rusty, I suppose."

"Rusty? That doesn't even cover it. Iruka doesn't stomp around like that, he kinda walks with – with his hips moving like this."

There was a rustling sound.

"Uh...like this?"

"Yeah, exactly! Spot on. See, you can do this..."

The voices faded away.

After a few minutes, his heart still thudding in his chest, Naruto finally jumped out. It'd been nerve-wracking hiding the whole time, but he couldn't believe his luck at coming across such a vital piece of information – the Library! That was it!

His mind racing, and yet never questioning why Iruka would have brought up the topic in his vicinity, Naruto rushed home. That day, he turned in for the night extra early, practically flying under his bedcovers in his excitement. Nonetheless, he watched the glowing of his alarm clock for half the night, willing time to speed up, and when he finally woke up the next morning – not having even realized when he had fallen asleep – he bustled around his apartment getting ready, with more energy than he'd had the entire past week combined.

That day's Academy lesson was thankfully conducted indoors, with a primary focus on reading, writing and math, and as soon as classes were over, Naruto was the first one out the door.

He'd seen and passed by the entrance to the Archive Library before, of course; it was near his home, built right under the Hokage monument. But the sign had always looked so official, and the long doors too foreboding.

Climbing up the stone stairway, he hesitated before the entrance. Reaching out with a hand, he pushed the doors, and despite their size, they opened silently.

Inside, a bored-looking chūnin was sitting behind a black counter, and beyond that – Naruto felt his eyes widen as he saw a huge expanse of bookshelves, with tomes and scrolls crammed into every open space from top to bottom. There was even another stairway that led downstairs, to a whole other floor of bookshelves that stretched from wall to wall.

"Pass?" the chūnin grunted, not looking up from the book in his hand.

Naruto froze. His hands tightening over the strap of his bag, he looked down at his toes, wondering if he'd misheard Iruka (or Kotetsu, he supposed).

"I..." he started out. At the sound of his voice, the chūnin looked up, and as recognition flitted across his face, for a second, Naruto thought he was going to yell at him to get out. But to his surprise, the chūnin put down his book and scribbled something on a piece of paper, before ripping it out and giving it to him.

"Here's your Academy student pass," he said. Naruto hesitantly reached for it, wondering wildly whether the chūnin would snatch it back at the last second with a sneer. But his fingers wrapped around the paper, and the chūnin let go. He returned to his book.

Slowly, Naruto turned around, looking out once more at the bookshelves.

"First floor only," the chūnin added in his bored voice. Nodding, Naruto shot off before the chūnin could take back the pass.

With his head wrapped in his scarf, he'd sneaked a few times into the public library before, but that had held nowhere near the amount of scrolls and books that he saw here. And it was far quieter here: There weren't any bored, mischievous children parked here by their parents, or feeble old women yelling at the librarian that their dog was missing.

Naruto came to a stop before a bookshelf marked "Academy Level," and craning his head back to scan the labels on the scrolls, he let out a slow breath. He'd learned the characters for 'Taijutsu,' 'Ninjutsu,' and 'Genjutsu' just a few days ago – and they were all here. Spotting a stool nearby, he dragged it over and climbed on top.

On the very first shelf, the very first scroll was 'Taijutsu for Beginners.' Naruto reached out and pulling it out, was surprised to feel how heavy it was. Gingerly, he unfurled the thick paper – and let out another shaking breath at the sight of the detailed illustrations. His gaze raced from each stance to the next, taking note of each individual adjustment of the feet and hands...

Naruto began to shake, and not trusting himself, he carefully rolled the scroll back up. His eyes felt hot, and he had to remind himself that ninja didn't cry. But it took all the willpower he had to force back the tears, and only when his eyes were completely dry did he allow himself to open the scroll up again.

He knew, now. These scrolls would be his teachers. His parents. His friends.

* * *

_One year later..._

"The next bout will be between...Naruto and Nogi!"

A girl wearing her hair back in a ponytail stepped out nervously onto the wooden platform. The platform, which had been smooth and unblemished at the beginning of the year, was now scarred with numerous marks of past fights, serving as a reminder of how far they had come since then.

Opposite her, a young boy with red hair leaped lightly onto the platform, making only the slightest sound as he landed. He stood relaxed and comfortably, with his hands hanging in front of him. His name was Naruto Uzumaki.

Nogi hated him.

At first, it'd been fun just because he was so easy to make fun of with his stupid hair, and she never got in trouble for picking on him, because nobody else liked him either. When her papa came home late smelling of beer and yelled at her mama and told Nogi to pick up her "damn" toys, there was nothing that made her feel better than running outside and taunting him with Funa and Yasu.

Naruto never said anything back, but he never cried either, so it was easy to pretend that he wasn't – well – one of  _them_.

He was weak too: Nogi always relished her matchups against him in taijutsu, and always used extra force than necessary when pushing him down to the ground, even though she always got in trouble with Iruka.

But gradually, at some point over the year, Nogi had suddenly found that he wasn't quite so easy to push down anymore. His awkward movements at the beginning of the year were gone, and one day, he even managed to connect a kick. It was stronger than she'd expected, and she was sent flying off the platform.

Her friends were immediately at her side helping her up, but when she looked up, Naruto was already getting off the platform, without a second glance at her.

Nogi  _hated_  him.

It was now the end of the year taijutsu evaluation. She lowered into her preferred starting stance, a compact and defensive one that still gave her enough maneuverability to jab out and go on the offensive in an instant. She hadn't fought against Naruto since he'd kicked her, but she knew that she couldn't underestimate him anymore. The only one who seemed to be able to knock down the boy nowadays was Sasuke, and well,  _nobody_  beat Sasuke.

"Begin!"

Nogi tensed up, readying herself. But to her annoyance, Naruto didn't move. He just stood there, watching her with a blank look on his face, and after a few seconds, she couldn't hold it in anymore. His red hair taunted her, filling her with anger, and she charged at him. Her hands were outstretched, and she threw herself forward – when he stepped aside. She felt something smash down on her back, and grunting in pain, she fell flat on her face. Before she could get back on her feet, she felt Naruto kick down on her side and shove her off the platform. She landed roughly with a loud thud, and coughed as a cloud of dirt erupted around her.

"The winner is Naruto!"

Nogi forced her sore body to turn around, and seeing Naruto's back as he walked off the platform, she felt hot tears begin to form in her eyes.

She  _really_  hated him.

* * *

After the year's evaluation, when Iruka took Naruto aside and asked whether he wanted to be transferred to an upper-level class, he answered 'yes' without a second's hesitation. Instead of being in the top of his class, as he was now, he would probably have to return to being in the bottom-most rung again. But Naruto didn't mind. He knew that with patience and hard-work, his teachers would guide him once more.

That winter, Naruto spent even more time in the Archives than before, determined to get an early start on his studies. And finally when springtime came and the Academy opened again, he found himself standing before yet another class of strange faces that looked back at him with sullen eyes. Steeling himself with a blank look, he prepared himself for yet another year of insufferable snickering and taunting.

However, to his surprise, his new classmates were slightly different. They were older than him, being nine or ten years old, and he found that to some extent, they had grown out of the ignorant cruelty of their childhood. They were at the age when they began to think for themselves instead of blindly following what their parents told them to. But at the same time, nobody approached him. Naruto wasn't an outsider, but he wasn't one of  _them._  He was just...something that sat beside them in their classroom and sparred with them outside.

Well, that was fine with Naruto. He'd gotten along just fine without any friends in his first class, and the newfound peace in his current class was more than enough for him. He had his teachers in the Archives. They taught him and kept him company. And even more than that, they were his friends, and Naruto didn't have to hide anything from them.

Naruto had two secrets that he'd never told anyone else: The first was that he felt two types of chakra running through his body. Of course he couldn't see any of it, but if he had to describe them in terms of how they felt, he'd say the first one felt  _yellow_ , and that the second felt  _red_. He had never tried directly using the second chakra; he'd found out early on that so long as he focused on his yellow chakra, he could easily direct it to gather wherever he wanted. The red chakra was much wilder and much more stubborn, and sometimes disrupted his chakra, making his ninjutsu fail. After some deliberation and several headaches, he had put aside his red chakra, focusing instead on controlling his yellow chakra.

The second secret was that when he nudged his red chakra, a curious black seal appeared on his abdomen. It looked similar to the symbol on the shoulders of the ninja uniform, with squiggly lines coming out like the rays of a sun, but there wasn't much more Naruto could decipher about it. After all, in the Academy, they hadn't learned anything beyond the bare bones of fūinjutsu, let alone anything about putting seals on a person.

The implications of there being a seal on his body were initially chilling; why was it there, who had put it there, and what was it sealing? Was it perhaps the source of his red chakra? To his disappointment, there was nothing useful on the subject of advanced fūinjutsu in the Archives, and when he tried to reason it out in his mind, all it did was give him a headache.

Thinking about it rationally, Naruto would have expected himself to do everything that he could to figure out the seal. And yet, strangely enough, he felt no compulsion to do so. On the contrary, he found the topic of the seal even slipping from his mind, sometimes to the point that he had to stop and think about what he was looking for in the Archives. It was a strange thing. But aside from the occasional headache, it didn't seem to affect him in any tangibly negative manner – nor was there anyone he could've asked about it in the first place.

In the end, after several weeks of frustration, he put it aside for good and stopped thinking about it at all.

And so, the months passed. Every morning, Naruto woke up early and, after his routine sets of pushups and pull-ups, as recommended by a body-training scroll, he practiced building up chakra by walking up the walls of his apartment. He also began to spend his mornings meditating and concentrating on feeling the flow of his chakra running through his body.

It was hard to believe that there had once been a time when he didn't know what chakra was: It was the spirit of his very self circulating throughout his body.

In the afternoons, Naruto attended the Academy and learned about chakra and hand seals, mastering basic techniques. He studied how to set traps, how to disguise his own presence, and how to eliminate as much sound as possible from his movements. He learned how to detonate explosive tags remotely with chakra, and could release himself from all basic genjutsu. He was smaller than everyone else in his class so he didn't win quite as easily as he had before, but he made sure none of his losses were in vain. Instead, he learned how to weave in and out to confuse your opponent, and how to use his opponents' movements and body weight against them.

And in the evenings, Naruto hurried to meet his teachers and friends in the Archive Library. In return for his loyalty, they granted to him their secrets, teaching him the lore of how jutsu worked, of how one used hand seals to manipulate how much chakra one used to fuel a technique. He learned that while the Academy taught them the traditional way to use seals and jutsu, a true master of ninjutsu could perform a complex jutsu with just a single hand seal.

Naruto had become such a frequent visitor at the Archives, that eventually, the chūnin had stopped paying such close attention to him. He didn't want to lose their trust, but sometimes when he thought it was safe, he slipped out of the Academy section and went into the higher level jutsu shelves. It was there that he discovered that a technique called the Kage Bunshin ( _Shadow clone technique_ ) existed, which's usefulness far outstripped that of the simpler version they learned in the Academy. Determined to master it, he slipped it back with him into the Academy section. Then, he quickly read through the instructions, hiding it behind a scroll about the applications of water jutsu in agriculture.

Reading through it, it became readily apparent as to the reason why they didn't teach it at the Academy: Unlike the illusionary clones, the shadow clones took up substantially more chakra – it was an amount that the typical person couldn't afford to expend. However, in his experimentations with his different types of chakra, Naruto had come to realize that his chakra reserves far exceeded that of any ordinary ninja's levels. And so, with extensive practice in the forest, he was eventually able to successfully summon several shadow clones.

Furthering his studies, he also began to read about chakra theory. He read about chakra affinity, and from a test with special chakra paper, learned that he had affinity for the wind element. From then on, following the rather cryptic diagrams provided in the scrolls, he began to experiment with molding his yellow chakra, observing how its properties changed depending on how he manipulated it. When Naruto first succeeded in changing the form of his chakra into being as sharp and thin as possible, and then released it, he found himself being blasted off of his feet as a strong gust of wind exploded in the area around him. Though it was exhausting, it was also exhilarating, and Naruto resolved to add elemental manipulation to his daily exercises, determined to master it.

In this manner, three years slowly passed.

When Naruto was ten, he graduated from the Academy at the top of his class and was put into Team 7 with two other genins: A girl named Mayu Kamizuki and a boy named Rai Hagane. Mayu, a small forgettable girl with brown pig-tails, was timid and seemed entirely too afraid of Naruto to talk in his presence. Instead, she hid behind their other teammate Rai, a tan dark-haired boy whose face was somewhat marred by a scar that ran strikingly across his left cheek. Neither seemed altogether pleased about being in the same group as the village pariah.

Their jōnin teacher was the renowned shinobi 'Copy Ninja Kakashi.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally speaking this is not my favorite chapter. It's already been heavily edited from its original release, but I just tacked on Naruto learning the Kage Bunshin without really going into it. One day I'll probably come back and expand on it a bit more, to make it more realistic.


	4. Distant Memories

Leaning against the railing of the roof garden, Kakashi Hatake looked down in silence at his new genin team; their facial expressions and the way they had positioned themselves was very telling.

The girl, Kamizuki Mayu, was biting her lower lip and looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but there. Kakashi wondered for a moment how she had passed the Academy test: She had gotten one of the lowest scores in ninjutsu, and the de facto lowest in taijutsu. But the forgettable looking girl apparently had a bit of a flair for genjutsu, and had even managed to conceal her presence from the chūnin instructor, which was impressive indeed.

At the moment, however, she clung onto the arm of the boy sprawled on the ground next to her – Hagane Rai. When Kakashi let his gaze linger on the long scar across his face, the boy scowled fiercely. He glanced away; it seemed that Kotetsu's younger brother would be a handful indeed.

Finally, he let his thoughts rest on the third genin: Uzumaki Naruto. He was two years younger than the other two and yet, had passed with the highest total score on the exam. His new hitai-ate gleaming on his forehead, he sat noticeably apart from the other two. Though Naruto's blank face was rather more difficult to read, Kakashi could make out a note of determination ingrained in the boy's eyes.

 _Oho._ He had to wonder what exactly the boy wanted to prove so much.

Despite his best efforts, seeing Naruto's face up close like this, Kakashi couldn't help but think of his own sensei: The boy may have had his mother's hair, but everything else was his father's.

While he had been under strict orders from the Third Hokage to not approach Naruto until now, he had seen from afar just how much the boy had suffered at the hands of the ignorant villagers. The Third had said that the experience would make him strong, just as how Minato had wanted. But Kakashi couldn't help but think that his old sensei would have been furious at him for letting his son grow up without knowing how much he had been loved.

At long last, Kakashi clapped his hands together to get the attention of his newest team. "I am your new jōnin instructor, Kakashi Hatake. So that I can know you better, let's go around in a circle with your names. You can also tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and your dreams." The three genins stared silently back at him, and Kakashi had to suppress a sigh. "How about you go first?" He gestured towards Rai, who scowled again but acquiesced.

"The name's Hagane Rai," the boy grumbled. "I love anything to do with weapons. My goal is to become the best weapons specialist in Konoha. And," he glowered at Kakashi, "I hate being ordered around."

 _A handful,_  Kakashi thought to himself.

"Now the girl," he ordered. Mayu stiffened under his gaze and Kakashi noted with concealed interest how, for some reason, her eyes momentarily flickered in Naruto's direction.

"My name is Mayu. I like birds, and...and I dislike... Well... My hobby is looking at the sky, and... my dream is to work with orphans one day and better their lives."

As she said this, Kakashi had followed her body language carefully; nearly the whole time, she had been biting her nails while looking down at her sandals. But as she talked about her dream, she had stopped fidgeting, and her voice hadn't wavered once.

Perhaps Izumo's younger sister had more substance to her than he'd initially given her credit for.

Suddenly, a voice spoke up without Kakashi's prompting: "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I plan on becoming the next Hokage."

Kakashi blinked.

It was the first time he had really heard Naruto's voice: It was even-toned and tempered, which was to be expected considering the isolated lifestyle he knew the boy to have led. But his words – their lack of empty bluster, and even more so, the conviction behind them...now  _that_ , was a surprise.

He hid a smile behind his mask. Maybe the Third had been right after all; it looked like the Fourth's son had grown up to be quite interesting.

* * *

The next day, the newly formed genin team waited at the training field for their new jōnin sensei. Though Kakashi had told them to arrive early, it seemed the man himself was going to be late. Grumbling about being hungry, Rai sprawled across the ground. Her face pinched with hunger, Mayu sat down next to him.

As the minutes ticked by and the sun inched up the sky, Naruto observed his new teammates in silence. Rai Hagane and Mayu Kamizuki... He had never really noticed either of them in his classes. Though that wasn't saying much, when he had barely interacted with any of his classmates over the past few years. The scant little he could recall of either them was superficial at best: Rai was loud, and Mayu was quiet. It seemed the two had known each other for quite a while as well, considering how tightly Mayu stuck to Rai's side.

None of this would have mattered to Naruto, except for the fact that they were now a team. He held back a sigh; he wished they would have just put him on a team by himself. It would've been less cumbersome that way.

Though Naruto had made an effort to stay alert, when his stomach began to make rumbling sounds, he settled down on the ground. Closing his eyes and focusing on the stream of chakra running throughout his body, Naruto began to think upon their present situation.

Why had the three of them been explicitly told to come this early for training? Why hadn't Kakashi come yet, leaving the three of them alone together? What kind of test could it be, that it would determine whether they were to continue training as genins, or return to the Academy as failures? Surely nobody expected them to be able to defeat a jōnin? And most importantly...why had they been told to skip breakfast?

Ironically, it was the sharp hunger wracking his belly that brought clarity to his mind. Naruto's eyes snapped open.

"We need a plan," he said aloud. His teammates seemed surprised at his addressing them.

"What do you mean?" said Rai, regarding him through narrowed eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei's test will probably involve us having to team up to beat him," he explained. "That's why he's late – he knew we didn't discuss anything yesterday, so he's giving us time now to work out a plan. In fact, he's probably watching us from somewhere right now to see how we spend this time."

His eyebrows raised, Rai looked around skeptically. " _I_  don't sense him anywhere."

"He's a  _jōnin_ ," said Naruto. He turned to look at Mayu, noting how she flinched from under his gaze. "You specialize in genjutsu, right?" He turned toward Rai. "You're a long-range weapons specialist. And of us here, I'm the best at taijutsu. If we team up and combine our abilities, I think we've got a decent chance at beating Kakashi-sensei."

His teammates exchanged looks. Then, Rai looked back at Naruto and to his surprise, gave him a nod. Considering how the other boy had introduced himself –  _I hate being ordered around_ –he'd expected him to put up more of a fight.

"Since it was your idea," said Rai, "what do you want us to do?"

* * *

By the time Kakashi finally arrived, Naruto felt reasonably pleased with the plan they had worked out. Getting the other two to cooperate with him had also been much easier than he had expected. In fact, it made him wonder if he should have put more effort in reaching out to the others in his class.

"Your test is to take these two bells from me before noon," said Kakashi, looking about as disinterested as possible. "Whichever one of you doesn't get the bell will be tied to the rock and forced to watch the others eat."

Well, there it was. It certainly solved the mystery of why they'd been told to skip breakfast – but it now presented another problem. Had he been wrong about the reason why they'd been given so much time together? If one of the three was already automatically slated to fail, how could they possibly work together as a team? Just a single glance at how Rai and Mayu were eyeing Naruto told him that they would undoubtedly betray him if things came to a head.

Fortunately, they had hatched some back-up plans in the possible case of such a event. Just as Kakashi had started the clock, Naruto motioned to the other two:  _P_ _lan B_.

When there wasn't an immediate response, he tensed. Would they move as they'd agreed upon? True, he'd made another back-up plan of his own just in case his teammates betrayed him from the start, but its chances of success were significantly lower.

But to his relief, just as he was about to consider a change in plans after all, they nodded in agreement and then disappeared in a blur of motion.

Directing chakra towards his feet, Naruto silently leaped up a tree to gain some higher ground. Once secured on a branch, he checked for Kakashi's location. To his surprise, he appeared to still be standing where they'd left him; either the man really underestimated them, or it was a clone.

There had to be a reason behind this farce of a test. It seemed unlikely that Kakashi was simply a sadist and took pleasure in failing genins – the man had seemed a bit too bored for that. It was more likely that he was trying to teach them some sort of meaningful lesson. Yet the test was set up in a way that guaranteed that at least one of them would fail. Was this supposed to be a demonstration in self-sacrifice? Was one of them meant to patriotically sacrifice himself for the success of their mission?

From the corner of his eye, he saw a flock of bluebirds come flapping out of a tree about a hundred yards away – it was the signal.

Raising his arms back, Naruto flung several shuriken and kunai down at Kakashi's still figure. With grim eyes, he watched them strike their target – and with a burst of white smoke, Kakashi disappeared, revealing a tree log in his place.

It was a clone, then, meaning the real jōnin had hidden himself and was probably watching – which could only mean bad news for Naruto, who'd just given away his own location. Dropping back down on the ground, he began to run.

Before Naruto had gotten too far, he sensed the presence of an active pursuer who could only be Kakashi. Without making any visible signs of recognition, he began to slow down, as though growing weary. Then, without warning, he dropped to the ground and swung out several shuriken at the spot he sensed him to be in. A moment later, the presence flickered out. His pulse quickening as he saw something silver flicker right next to him, Naruto flipped out of the way.

Just as he landed, there was a cloud of dust, and when it cleared, Kakashi was standing behind him.

* * *

"Not bad," said Kakashi.

A beat passed where Naruto remained motionless, and he realized that something was wrong. Then with a burst of smoke, Naruto disappeared, and a log clattered on the ground. There was a hissing sound, and recognizing it in a heartbeat as the indicator of an exploding tag, Kakashi immediately leaped out of the way.

As he spun into the air, a redheaded figure bulleted out of the nearby bushes and barreled into him. Raising his arm just in time to block the kick, Kakashi reached out with his free hand to close off the boy's movements. But even as his hand settled around Naruto's ankle, the boy twisted around in midair, swinging the length of his other leg at Kakashi's neck. Forced to let go in order to avoid having his windpipe crushed, he watched as Naruto landed nimbly on his hands before flipping back upright.

Without a moment's pause, Naruto threw another exploding tag at him. As Kakashi leaped aside again, he saw that the genin had began to quickly make some seals. Before Kakashi could see what technique he was forming, the tag had combusted, momentarily distracting him. The next second, a sharp gust of wind burst into existence besides him, picking up a cloud of leaves and dust to create a miniature storm in the clearing.

Interesting...so Naruto had wind affinity just like his father. But Kakashi had to smile at the naivety of the genin's plan. If Naruto's aim had been to blind him, unluckily for him, Kakashi didn't need to rely on his vision to be able to sense where he was. And as expected, he sensed the boy running directly towards him. Bending his legs, he prepared to leap over Naruto – when suddenly, he sensed upwards of twenty kunai shooting straight towards him from above and behind.

 _Shit,_  thought Kakashi, as he was forced to roll to the side. In the excitement, he'd forgotten about the other two.

On his feet once more, Kakashi dodged another leg sweep from Naruto, scanning the area for Rai as he did so. Judging from how the kunai had been thrown, Rai was probably hiding in one of the trees and had waited for the opening Naruto had created. And if Rai was around, Mayu was sure to be close by. Marveling at how far this year's batch of genins were pushing him, he focused and searched for her chakra.

While Mayu may have been able to conceal herself from a chūnin...there was a world of difference between jōnin and chūnin.

Just as it seemed that Naruto's taijutsu and Rai's onslaught of projectile weaponry had him cornered, Kakashi sensed a small disturbance in the ground below. His eyes narrowed. A second later, Mayu came bursting out of the earth and with a look of rare triumph, she swiped at the two bells that hung tantalizingly from his waistband.

So they had still gone ahead with the plan. He had expected them to abandon all signs of teamwork once they were told only two of them could pass, but it seemed they had stuck to the plan. Naruto would first engage Kakashi, and Rai would provide further distraction. Mayu, as their most accomplished at hiding her presence, would creep up on him and take the two bells. It was a simple plan, but effective, and if he had been just an ordinary person, it would undoubtedly have worked on him.

It was child's play for Kakashi to replace himself with Naruto instead at the last moment. If he had been any less pushed by the pursuit, he would have enjoyed the look of utter shock that flashed across Mayu's face as she instead crashed straight into Naruto.

Two down, one to go. Kakashi began to look for Rai as he waited for Mayu and Naruto to disentangle themselves...when suddenly, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

In the split second that it took for Kakashi to register what had happened, a flash of red came shooting out of the hole that Mayu had made. Watching in astonishment at the hand that reached out for the bells, he immediately leaped away, realizing his mistake. At some point, Naruto must have replaced himself with a shadow clone –  _a shadow clone!_  – the real Naruto had hidden underground, hiding his presence behind Mayu's.

A bell jangled.

Kakashi felt a single drop of sweat roll down his neck, as he and Naruto stared impassively at each other. A single bell dangled from between the boy's fingers. Judging from the look of shock still on Mayu's face, she had not been privy to this part of Naruto's plans either. Kakashi had to wonder whether it had been a spur of the moment thing, or whether he had thought of it all from the very beginning.

Whichever the case however, it didn't make much of a difference.

He had underestimated the genin – it was as simple as that. As similar as Naruto looked to the Fourth, it had been all too easy to simply dismiss him as the cute baby-faced son of the legend. He certainly hadn't expected him to know a jōnin-level technique such as the Shadow Clone technique, or thought it possible for a genin to have devised such a plan. But now, he knew better – and he would never so completely underestimate the son of Minato again.

 _No,_  Kakashi corrected himself. He would definitely not be underestimating  _Naruto Uzumaki_  again.

"Very well," he said, shaking his head ruefully. The remaining bell jingled from his pocket. "But since only Naruto got a bell...the two of you will have to be tied to the rock." For a few seconds, he let the two genin process the information, noting the look of disappointment on Mayu's face and the carefully blank one on Naruto's. Then he smiled behind his mask. "Just kidding. Everyone passes."

Letting out a big sigh, Mayu fell on her knees, and soon afterward, Rai dropped out of the trees to join them. With some amusement, Kakashi noted the wide, easy grin on his scarred face; it looked far more natural there than the scowl had. It seemed the boy didn't take too well to strangers, but was the type to quickly warm up to one.

As his genin began to ravenously dig into their lunches, Kakashi looked over them. He had somewhat mixed feelings about how things had turned out. Originally, he had fully expected them to work separately, and completely fail at capturing a bell. Then he would have tested them, as he had with all previous genin teams, by checking to see whether they would choose to ignore his orders and take care of each other.

This was the first time that he would pass a team for actually succeeding in their mission, and he didn't know whether to feel proud...or apprehensive.

After instructing everyone on Team 7 – now Team Kakashi, he supposed – to rest up in order to start missions the following day, Kakashi prepared to make his report to the Hokage. But before leaving the training area, he stopped by the memorial where his best friend's name was inscribed. He lowered his head, and thought of his own sensei and team. It all seemed like a millennia ago, and now, he was the only one left. He wondered if he would be able to pass on what he had learned from them to his own genin team.

He sincerely prayed that it would not come for them at as high a cost as it had for himself.


	5. Eyes Like Cold Steel

Knowing that the road to becoming Hokage would be a long one, Naruto had always had faith in his own patience. But as he chased down the Fire Lord's wife's pet kitten for the umpteenth time that afternoon, he found himself entertaining thoughts of premeditated murder.

"It's little wonder it's always running away," muttered Rai.

With varying looks of pity on their faces, they watched the pig of a woman press the squirming kitten against her folds of chin fat in a show of fervent adoration. As the woman pulled out several crisp bills of ryō from her handbag, the kitten wriggled out of her grasp again and began to race for freedom towards the exit. Noting the look of extreme terror on its small face, it was only half-heartedly that Naruto grabbed the animal and returned it to its owner's claws.

It had been several months since Team 7 had passed Kakashi's test, and in the days following, they had carried out a long, repetitive series of D-rank missions. Most of these missions involved mundane odd-jobs that posed little to no risk to their lives, and they were getting restless.

Nonetheless, Naruto was pleased with their jōnin sensei. The man understood the significance of chakra manipulation, and when Naruto demonstrated his own experimentation with his wind affinity, seemed willing to teach him how to refine his control. It turned out that most jōnin were able to use at least two elemental chakra, with Kakashi suggesting to Naruto that he could begin training in another nature once he had mastered his Wind chakra.

Despite his lax appearance, Kakashi was quick to correct any flaws or inefficiencies in their forms and never seemed to lack for experience or knowledge in anything. After the trial with the bells, Naruto had never again managed to get the upper hand against their sensei. Though it was frustrating at times seeing the huge difference in their skills, it was still gratifying to know that he was learning under one of the very best jōnin Konoha had to offer.

Everything about having a jōnin instructor was new for Naruto. But if he had to say, the strangest part about it all was that sometimes, it seemed to Naruto that Kakashi held no bias against him. Though the man's gaze was piercing and unapologetic, Naruto had never detected even the slightest glimmer of resentment or revulsion. He couldn't quite rule out the possibility that the jōnin's capability to control his emotions simply exceeded his own ability to detect them. But despite his apprehension, sometimes Naruto even thought that Kakashi seemed... _interested_  in teaching him. It was an odd feeling. Naruto tried to quash it, and yet, against his will, he found himself going out of his way to approach Kakashi.

Gradually, as Team Kakashi grew more experienced, they began to be given C-rank missions. C-rank missions were missions anticipated to have some combat involved with the possibility of injury, and the three genin eagerly snapped up every opportunity they got.

To Naruto's perplexity, the three of them worked well together. Despite his initial apprehension regarding Rai in particular, after their success in Kakashi's bell test, Rai had proved to be responsive and willing to follow Naruto's directions. And while Mayu had yet to directly address Naruto, she silently followed Rai.

In terms of their abilities, they were a well-balanced team. Mayu was their scout, being easily the best at stealth and having a certain affinity with birds that allowed her to transmit messages over distances. Her strength in genjutsu was also promising, and Naruto could think of a variety of uses for it, such as being able to detain the target before he or Kakashi arrived. Rai on the other hand specialized at handling long-range weapons, and was able to provide a steady stream of backup artillery on all their missions. Meanwhile, Naruto, who preferred close combat, was their main offensive power in taking down the target. He had begun receiving kenjutsu instruction from Kakashi, and had taken to strapping a tantō across his back.

Their first two C-rank missions involved capturing dangerous wild animals that had been spotted around the lands of Konoha. Their third mission, however, was their first ever bodyguard duty. The mission's objective was to escort the caravan of a wealthy silk merchant and his family to the village of Yugakure in the Land of Hot Water.

* * *

Mayu and Rai flanked the caravan, with Naruto at its lead and Kakashi watching over from the back. Though the three genin were initially enthusiastic about their duties, the energy that had been bubbling within them at the start of their trip had all but dissipated by the fourth day. Having reached the last leg of their journey with little incident, the three were now dirty and tired.

It was a matter of unfortunate timing that it was their sensei's turn to sleep when the rogue bandits attacked the caravan. It was the middle of the day, and everything seemed normal; Rai was laughing with the merchant's children, while Mayu watched them with a smile smile on her face. From his place at the front, Naruto was listlessly still scanning the distance in search of anything that looked out of place. He hadn't slept in over a day, and he was really looking forward to switching positions with Kakashi. When he noticed a slight disturbance in the distance, he paused and focused on it. However, after nothing had happened for several minutes, he dismissed the disturbance as a false alarm.

He had only just returned his attention to the immediate vicinity, when suddenly, with an exploding sound, a wagon behind him burst into flames.

Immediately leaping to his feet, Naruto converged on the burning wagon while Mayu and Rai rose up protectively around their patron's family. Kakashi joined him a second later looking completely alert, and together, they used water techniques to douse the flames.

Even as the last flame sizzled out however, two more wagons had burst into flames. Sensing several shuriken spinning directly towards him, Kakashi flipped out of the way. As he did so, Naruto deflected several kunai away from the main wagon. He missed one that had been sent later than the rest, and the kunai embedded itself into the glass of the window, cracking it. From behind it, Naruto could see the shivering pale face of the merchant, a corpulent old man with thinning hair. Suddenly, there was a flash of black as a cloaked man leaped at the merchant, his eyes gleaming with the intent of murder. Before Naruto could react, the jōnin besides him had disappeared. There was a cracking sound as Kakashi twisted the man's head in midair, instantaneously killing him, before jumping up to the top of the wagon where two more figures in black holding daggers waited for him.

It had been so sudden, that Naruto jerked back; it was the first time he'd ever seen somebody die. He followed with widened eyes as the body landed on the ground with a thump. It was still.

Kakashi's voice shattered through his reverie: "Naruto, the others are getting away!"

While he'd been distracted, two figures swathed in ragged cloaks had begun to head into the woods. Shame rushed warmly to his face and Naruto immediately leapt into the air.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu ( _Shadow Clone Technique_ )!" Making two more shadow clones of himself, Naruto and his clones followed the remaining two bandits into the woods besides the road.

They were evidently trained, and had some experience in dealing with other ninja. Naruto's first clone was taken out by the shorter man within seconds, though judging by the way the man reacted when the clone disappeared, he had never dealt with shadow clones before. However, they were no match for Naruto, and he had caught up to one of them within a minute. Ordering his remaining clone to follow the other bandit, he removed the tantō from his back. The man's eyes widened as he flew towards him with the tantō in hand, but before he could cry out in alarm, Naruto slid the blade across the front of his neck.

A stream of red spurted out, spraying his face with warm blood. With a gurgle, the man fell to the ground.

That made it the second time he'd seen someone die. However, while he'd been gawking the first time, there was a strange clarity in his head now that made it possible for Naruto to wipe the tantō on his pants before returning it to his back. Picking up the scroll that the man had been carrying, he looked around for the remaining bandit. Spotting the tell-tale rags getting rapidly farther away, Naruto jumped up the sides of a tree. Feeding extra chakra down to his feet, his leaps between each tree grew stronger and longer, and with his shadow clone slowing the bandit down, he soon closed the distance. Naruto could see the man from up close now; like the others, he was not wearing any identifying hitai-ate. The bandit's age was inscrutable, though the face was scruffy with stubble and worn down. The man could see the Naruto too now; his features twisted in visible shock.

"You're just a child!" he said, just as Naruto's shadow clone reached him.

The man pulled out a kunai from a pouch and waved it threateningly at him. The clone easily kicked it out of his hand, and as it spiraled into the air, the real Naruto grabbed it. Knocking the man off balance with a leg sweep, Naruto pushed the bigger man down onto his knees with his foot, and pressed the kunai against his common carotid.

"Why did you attack the caravan?" he asked. When the man didn't respond, he added pressure to the blade. A thin line of vivid red appeared on the bandit's neck, and Naruto could hear the man's heart begin to beat faster.

"Let me go," pleaded the man, his voice raw with desperation.

"Tell me."

"I have a son waiting for me. He's six. We just needed money. Please."

Naruto paused. It didn't seem like the man was lying, but his mission came first. And the mission details did not include letting go a bandit who would undoubtedly attack other innocent merchants in the future.

With a gurgle identical to the first man, the bandit before him fell to the ground. Red blood came bubbling out of the sides of his mouth as he attempted to say something.

"Hir..." the bandit choked out, before his eyes glazed over. He twitched once and then he was still.

Wiping the blood off the kunai and returning it to his holster, Naruto picked up the remaining scrolls and tucked them besides his tantō on his back. As he did so, there was a flicker of movement, and Kakashi appeared beside him with the body of the other bandit. Helping Naruto shoulder the second body, they returned to the caravan.

All the fires had been put out, and the bodies of the two bandits that Kakashi had dealt with had been arranged neatly on the side of the road for their companions to later claim. The two bandits' bodies were laid to rest beside them.

No one in the merchant's family had been more than superficially injured and with Naruto returning the scrolls that the two escapees had made off with, their finances were also more or less protected. Naruto mutely accepted the gushing praises of the fat man, all too aware of the still wet bloodstains on his face and clothes. While Rai gave him a nod of acknowledgment, Mayu shot him a look of fear before turning away to comfort some of the younger children.

When Naruto was alone, he raised a hand and touched his face. Lowering it, he saw that his fingers were stained red.

He'd taken the lives of two men in the same amount of time it'd have taken him to eat a meal. It had been so easy too: just a single slash across their necks, and all of their dreams, aspirations, hopes had ceased to matter. His thoughts turned to what the bandit had been trying to say in his final moments. 'Hir...' ...Hiro? His son's name, perhaps?

By the time Kakashi told Naruto that he could rest for the rest of the journey to Yugakure while the jōnin took over his position, he was so tired that he accepted without comment.

Clambering into the wagon and lying down, he immediately felt sleep envelope his weary body.

 _The road to becoming Hokage is going to be long indeed_ , Naruto thought to himself as he drifted off.

In his dreams that night, the bandit's body was gone from the side of the road. The only sign that it had been there was the faint trail of dirt and broken grass blades that led into the forest.


	6. The Ones to be Protected

Yugakure was a peaceful and prosperous village in the Land of Hot Water. The village was tucked away high up in the shrub-covered mountains, connected to the ground by carved pathways that spiraled down the side of the cliff rock. The country received its name from their famous hot springs, which were sourced by the many small rivers that furrowed through the land. These rivers all eventually cascaded down the side of the valley as thin waterfalls before joining a vast river.

The village was apparently very popular as a tourist spot, and as Naruto and his team wearily walked past the entrance gates, they could see quite a number of families coming in with them. Within the village itself, there were a large variety of souvenir stalls selling festival masks, local specialties, and fans among other things. The center of attraction however seemed to be the big wooden archway with the words 'Hot Springs' at the center of the village, which the majority of the people were headed towards.

The sky was bleached with orange and purple as the sun set, and Kakashi decided that they would stay the night before leaving for Konoha at dawn. Hearing of their decision and overcome with gratitude for a job well done, the silk merchant gifted them with tickets for an overnight stay at a famous local inn with its very own hot spring.

And so that evening, Mayu headed off by herself to the women's bath while Naruto and Rai hunkered down in the heated pool in the men's bath. Resting a soaked towel on his head, Naruto closed his eyes, letting his tired muscles soak in the hot water. With his eyes closed, he idly began to pick up the jumbled chatter of multiple surrounding conversations; the way they washed over him had a very relaxing effect.

"Oi, Naruto!"

Naruto opened a single eye to see Rai looking at him from the opposite end of the pool. Mirroring Naruto with a folded towel on his head, he had a mischievous look on his face.

Much more than Mayu, and even more so since the incident with the bandits, Naruto had noticed that the other boy was talking to him with increasing frequency. It was a little bewildering and altogether new for Naruto; a small part of him skeptically wondered whether Rai was setting him up for something. However, since preserving the team harmony would be most beneficial to successfully completing their missions, he didn't rebuff the other genin.

"What is it?" he said.

Rai waggled his eyebrows. "Think Kakashi-sensei'll take off his mask in the bath?"

Naruto pondered this for a moment. It was true that he had also never seen their sensei's face in its entirety, though he had never before thought too deeply on it. "I don't see why he wouldn't," he said. "I don't think he has a medical condition that requires him to always have a facemask on."

"I bet he's hiding a weird mole." Rai smirked. "Or something else," he added with a more sober look, touching with his hand the knotted scar that ran across his cheek.

"Who's hiding a mole?" said a voice.

It belonged to Kakashi, who appeared to be stepping into the bath area. He was standing where the white steam from the baths was thickest, and they could only make out the outlines of his body. As the man stepped closer to where the two genin were resting, Rai stood up impatiently with a splash, straining to see his exposed face.

Naruto remained seated, but strangely enough, he also began to find curiosity bubbling within him.

Just as Kakashi was about to come into view, there was a soft hissing sound in the bath indicating new hot water was being pumped in. A sigh of appreciation rising up among the men, a cloud of white steam drifted up, concealing everything around them. Soon, Naruto couldn't even see Rai, who was right in front of him, though he could hear the other genin gnash his teeth in frustration.

"This is nice, isn't it?" he heard Kakashi comment congenially. "Hm, this steam's making it hard to see anything." There was a splashing sound. "Oh, there goes my towel. Guess I'll have to get a new one..."

There was another splashing sound, and then the sound of a wet foot slapping on rock as Kakashi climbed out of the bath.

 _This is it!,_  thought Naruto. Quickly making the appropriate hand seals, he then slashed his hand in Kakashi's direction. A gust of wind swept through the bath, rapidly clearing the steam clouds. There was a whistling sound, and then something that sounded like barrels crashing on rocks and breaking. This was soon followed by the sounds of high-pitched screaming from the women's side of the hot spring.

"Nice one, Naruto!" cheered Rai.

The steam had all but cleared from the bath now, and Naruto now saw that there were at least twenty other people standing around in towels. They were all looking around, blinking in confusion.

"Where's Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Ah, thanks for that Naruto," he heard Kakashi say from behind him. "I found my towel." Naruto and Rai whipped around, to see Kakashi back in the hot spring pool. He was still wearing his hitai-ate on his forehead, and had wrapped his newly rediscovered towel around the bottom half of his face.

Covering his face with a hand, Rai let out a groan.

* * *

After the three had finished soaking in the hot spring, they changed into cotton yukata provided by the inn (Kakashi somehow managing to put his facemask back on as well) before rejoining Mayu at the outdoor garden. Several families were by the pond, admiring the colorful fish that swam in its depths. It was dark, so the garden was lit with several paper lanterns that hung from lines strung all around the walls.

Attracted to different aspects of the garden, the team soon split up. Kakashi settled down on the bamboo veranda with a book, while Rai joined several other boys who were admiring some ornamental weaponry on display within glass cases. Mayu, seemingly entranced by the bobbing lights, excused herself to walk through the garden.

In the end, finding himself alone, Naruto hovered by the veranda for a few minutes before slowly making his way over to the pond. The families had moved on, and there was now only one other man who was by himself at the pond's edge. Together, they stood in silence for several minutes, watching the fish dart through the shadowy water.

"Nice chakra control earlier, kid," the man said suddenly. "Though you packed a lil' too much punch in it."

Startled, Naruto gave him a cursory glance; the stranger had short, slicked-back silver hair, but he was even younger than Kakashi. He was fit and his arms were muscled, indicating extensive training. The man – or was he a teenager? – was not wearing a yukata like everyone else, but rather simple nondescript black shirt and pants. Around his neck was a hitai-ate that Naruto didn't recognize: It had three diagonal lines. Naruto wondered whether the Land of Hot Water also had a ninja village hidden away somewhere.

"What village are you from?" he asked.

"Yugakure," replied the man with a careless shrug of his shoulders.

Naruto's brow furrowed in thought. "You mean this place used to be a hidden village?" He couldn't imagine a sleepy tourist village such as this one being the headquarters of a group of highly skilled assassins. Yet the man standing before him was undoubtedly a shinobi, and from what he could sense, a very skilled one at that.

"It used to be a proper ninja village, before these fat merchants came in and turned this place into the laughingstock it is now," said the man, folding his arms across his chest. "Now, the village's become just like this pond...and the people, simple ornamental fish."

Naruto didn't respond. The man had yet to make any threatening moves, but there was something off about the man. It wasn't just the bitterness that laced the man's words; the combination of the cold, steely glint in his violet eyes and the just barely self-contained tremor in the man's muscles sent off every alarm in Naruto's mind.

There was a splash as a pair of children in yukata ran to the pond's edge. They examined the koi fish, pointing out and laughing at specific ones that caught their eye.

"Look at that fat one!" said the little girl, her fishtail braid dipping below the water's surface. She looked a year or two younger than Naruto, who observed them silently. "Do you think mom'll let me take it home, Taki?"

Her brother, standing beside her in a bright blue yukata, swiped at the fish in question several times before huffily giving up. "It's just a stupid fish. It'll die in a day anyways, like all your other ones." Jumping out of the pond, he waddled away. Calling out for him to wait, the girl shot a second glance backwards at the fish before struggling up and following.

Naruto felt the sudden explosion of killing intent a moment before the foreign ninja disappeared.

Dashing forward, he grabbed the sibling pair underneath each arm and jumped. Flying through the air with the two children struggling in his arms, the ground where they had been standing on just a moment earlier blasted apart into chunks of broken earth.

When the dust had cleared, it revealed a giant steel katana in the hands of the silver-haired man. Looking up with a smile as he met Naruto's eyes, the man yanked the katana out of the ground. Jumping back with a vindictive giggle, he slashed at a passing woman and then disappeared again. The woman stared down in disbelief as bright red blood suddenly came spurting out of her thigh, and her leg collapsed in on itself.

The explosion had stunned everyone into silence, but it was only after her single pained scream pierced through the garden, that pandemonium set in.

"What's going on?!" shouted Rai, racing over.

Naruto could barely hear him over the screaming; if they weren't careful, they could be trampled.

"There's a man on the loose," he said, just as Mayu – looking terrified – reached them, with Kakashi on her heels. "He's strong, sensei."

"Alright, team Kakashi," said the jōnin, looking around grimly. "I'll take care of him. You three focus on evacuating the citizens."

They jumped into motion. Rai ran over to the locked entrance gateway, which a crowd of panicked people were now pummeling their fists against. Looking around frantically, he spotted the weapons on display that he had been looking at earlier. Immediately shattering the glass with his fist, he pulled out a scythe. Dragging it over to the gate, he smashed the doors open, and the terrified crowd began to pour out.

Meanwhile, Mayu and Naruto had begun to help the various injured persons that were lying scattered across the ground. As Naruto helped up a middle-aged man bleeding from a deep slash across his stomach, the man let out a groan.

"Hidan...Please, stop him..." The man slumped against Naruto as he fell unconscious.

Mayu rushed over, and together, they propped the man upright against the wall of one of the buildings. Straightening up, Naruto quickly looked for Kakashi with shrewd eyes. He had never seen the jōnin look so serious before, and even the horror of their situation couldn't distract him from the opportunity this presented. Now, Naruto would be able to see him truly in action.

He quickly spotted Kakashi standing in a clearing...and shivered.

Even dressed in a yukata as he was, Kakashi's coldly furious face would have set the most battle-hardened veterans running in the opposite direction. As it was, however, the silver-haired man – Hidan? – only laughed maniacally as he begun to swing the heavy katana around.

Despite himself, Naruto couldn't help but feel impressed by the sheer raw strength and power the man was displaying.

"Don't just stare at me," said Hidan, tightening his grip on the handle of his blade. "Show me what you've got!"

Without responding, Kakashi disappeared in a flicker of white, and faster than Naruto had ever seen him move, kicked Hidan directly in the chest. Caught off guard, Hidan flew backwards toward where the two genin were watching. Leaping out of the way, they watched the man collide into a tree instead, which collapsed from behind him upon impact. A deafening crackling sound reminiscent of a thousand birds filled the area, and a bright blue ball of spinning chakra quickly formed between Kakashi's hands. As Hidan angrily brushed aside fragments of wood from his chest, the jōnin shot towards them, leaving behind a small path of destruction. Just before Kakashi struck however, Hidan let out a mocking laugh as he reached out for something with his free hand.

"The boy!" cried out Mayu, but Naruto had already begun to move.

Pushing himself to run faster than he had ever done before, he leaped into the air. The struggling boy in the blue yukata stared with terrified eyes at the incoming jōnin as he hung from Hidan's hands like a meat shield. Grabbing the neck of the boy's yukata with his hands and tearing him away, Naruto spun through the air. The crackling ball of lightning chakra passed by mere inches from his face. Hidan snarled in frustration and leaped backwards; Kakashi followed.

Landing on the ground, Naruto set the struggling boy on the ground. Mayu rushed to the boy's side to check for injuries, but he immediately pushed her away. He looked up at the two genin with only fear in his eyes.

"Get away from me! You monsters!" he screamed, his small body shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"We're here to help you," said Mayu gently, holding her hands up to show she wasn't holding anything.

"No! You killed Nami!" bellowed the boy, staggering backwards in his desire to get away. Naruto remembered the girl with the fishtail braid the boy had been playing with earlier. "Don't kill me too!"

Naruto stopped in his tracks as he remembered the bandits he had killed the day before. His clothes back in the inn were being washed, but it would take several more washes before the bloodstains completely faded. He suddenly wondered if the man's son was waiting for his father to come back, shivering alone in the dark underneath a forgotten bush.

Would he be as frightened as this shivering boy in a torn yukata before him?

"I won't allow you to die." Naruto held his hand out to the boy. "Trust me."

The boy stared back at Naruto with wide eyes, his mouth falling open a little. "I..." He stopped. And he must have found sincerity in Naruto's expression, because he stopped trembling.

Behind them, Hidan screamed in pain and in fury, and the terrible shrieking sound of shattering metal followed. Naruto saw, as if in slow motion, a jagged shard of steel whistle through the air as it headed straight for the boy who now reached for his hand.


	7. Companions

Kakashi had just been nodding off to sleep when his mental warning bells suddenly went off. Immediately alert again, he hadn't had to look long to find the man behind the disturbance. He didn't know who this man was, but the jōnin knew that people like him, with such little regard for others' lives, were one of the most dangerous opponents to have around. And the least forgivable.

"Don't just stare at me," said the strange shinobi, swinging his katana carelessly. "Show me what you've got!"

Kakashi obliged. Sending chakra into his feet, he propelled himself like a bullet towards the man. His opponent's violet eyes widened in surprise as his foot connected squarely with his chest. Letting out a grunt of pain, the man flew backwards and careened through a row of gangly trees.

The jōnin raised his hitai-ate, revealing the three tomoe of the sharingan in his left eye, and lowered his hand: "Raikiri ( _Lightning Cutter_ )!"

As he channeled his lightning chakra towards his hand, the deafening sound of crackling chakra filled the garden, and a focused ball of swirling blue materialized. The silver-haired shinobi was still dazed from impact, and Kakashi saw with his sharingan that he would not have enough time to move out of the way. The instant his Raikiri was ready, the jōnin lowered his head and shot towards the stirring man, tearing up the earth behind him with the sheer aftershock.

However, just before he reached the man, there was a flicker of movement he hadn't anticipated. Kakashi, to his shock, sensed a much smaller and weaker chakra suddenly being thrust between him and his opponent. His hand was already moving towards the man's heart however, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop even if he had to go through the child.

A surge of roiling yellow chakra – Naruto – was already moving towards them, and Kakashi, with all the strength of his will, managed to inch his crackling chakra slightly upwards. Naruto tore the boy out of the man's grasp, and to his relief, evaded his hand. However, the brief instant it had cost him gave the other man enough time to recover and leap backwards. Kakashi's hand instead slammed into the ground; the earth exploded, throwing up a huge wave of dirt. Nevertheless, taking advantage of the wave, the jōnin followed under its cover and aimed a quick kick at the man.

"Whew, that was close!" said the man, blocking with his katana, and then swinging it at Kakashi. Slipping under the blade, Kakashi attempted to sweep the man off balance, but he nimbly leaped over the jōnin and slashed downwards. Though evading the sharp edge, the side of the katana crashed into the white-haired ninja. He skidded backwards, the heels of his feet creating furrows in the earth. The man raised his katana once more and flipped into the air, prepared to finish off the jōnin. However, having read his movements ahead of time with the sharingan, Kakashi rapidly channeled his chakra into his hand once more. As the man dropped down on him, unable to dodge, the jōnin plunged the shrieking lightning towards the silver-haired man.

It could only be a testimony to the man's skill that he managed to get his katana up in midair, but it was no use. Kakashi's Raikiri pierced the blade, shattering it into dozens of deadly steel splinters that were sent flying through the air, and then kept going through the man's chest.

The man let out a pained, guttural scream. Thick globs of red blood came gushing out of his chest. Throwing himself back, he landed heavily on his feet, panting. As he stood there, hunched over, he dropped the handle of the broken katana on the ground with a clatter. Looking around wildly for a moment, the man disappeared, and flecks of blood flew through the air in his wake.

Kakashi blinked in surprise; he had missed his heart, but he had still severely injured him. The man shouldn't have been able to move, let alone move at such high speeds. Looking around for the man's violet chakra with his sharingan, he spotted it near the exit gate. With a sinking heart, he saw nearby another chakra that he knew well.

"Hell, this hurts..." The man spat out thick blood, and grinned weakly. He squeezed the throat of an unconscious black-haired boy – Rai – and then nudged something on the ground with his foot. "Nice weapon you got here. Real nice. Mind if I borrow it?" Without waiting for a response, he kicked a red-bladed scythe into the air and grabbed it with his free hand. With a hateful look towards the jōnin, the man threw the genin into the air, and then swung down with his new weapon. The curved blades made a sick whistling sound as they pierced the air.

Kakashi leaped into the air, and grabbed the limp body, spinning to avoid the blades. As he did so, he saw the man race out through the gate, leaving behind a ghostly, malicious laugh. Then he was gone.

It was over.

Kakashi lowered his hitai-ate back over his sharingan. Setting Rai down on the ground, he checked the genin's vitals and let out a sigh of relief. Looking around, he saw that most of the bodies lying on the ground had only superficial injuries; the biggest damage had been done to the garden itself. His eyes widened as he found his two other genin.

"Naruto!" said Kakashi, running over. "Mayu! What happened?"

Looking terrified, Mayu was trying to staunch a profusely bleeding wound on Naruto's bare chest. The boy was unconscious on the ground, the tips of his fingers still twitching. His yukata, which had been partially opened to reveal his chest, was torn and ragged. A long jagged shard of metal, covered in sticky blood, was on the ground besides them.

Quickly putting the pieces together, Kakashi gently pushed the shocked girl aside. She obliged willingly, standing up. She put a comforting arm around a young, trembling boy that he didn't recognize. Gathering his chakra together, he prepared to use what little medical ninjutsu he knew to try and at least stabilize the boy – and then stopped.

 _Impossible_ , thought Kakashi. Disbelievingly, he wiped away some of the blood that had pooled on the boy's chest, but saw that it was true. The deep wound was already healing; even as he was watching, the skin was beginning to knit back together. Amazed, the jōnin blinked, as if doing so would somehow halt the healing. It didn't. He realized then that the sealed Kyūbi must have somehow accelerated Naruto's healing rate – perhaps by pumping out its chakra to save the boy.

"Sensei?" said Mayu, her voice taut with fear.

"He'll be fine, it was just a shallow cut," he lied.

"Shallow?" repeated the girl, her eyes widening. Kakashi wordlessly bent over, and picked Naruto's surprisingly light body up. There were shouts at the gate, and several medics came racing in. Catching one of the medics' attention, he directed them towards Rai, who was just beginning to feebly stir.

When he turned back to wave for Mayu to follow him, he saw the look on her face and stopped. "Mayu...?"

"Sensei, I already know," she said quietly. "I know what he is."

* * *

When Naruto came to, everything was hazy and out-of-focus, and there was a sharp, throbbing pain in the right side of his chest. He was alone in a dark room. Looking down, he saw bandages covering his chest. For a second, Naruto couldn't figure out what he was doing there – before the memory of what happened came rushing back.

When the piece of the metal blade came spinning at the boy in the blue yukata, Naruto hadn't thought – he'd simply just  _moved_. The only thought in his mind right then was how much he wanted – needed – to save the boy. He'd pushed the child aside, and that was the last thing he could remember before waking up in the room.

Naruto wondered briefly if he had died and this was some awful version of the afterlife, but quickly dismissed the thought. He didn't think his body would hurt this badly if he were dead.

Just then, he heard footsteps outside the room, and then soft voices. Naruto tensed – wincing as he did so – before relaxing as he recognized their voices. It was Kakashi and Mayu. They were talking too quietly for him to hear, but it seemed like they were discussing something. A minute later, they must have come to a decision for he heard Kakashi's heavier footsteps begin to walk away. There was a pause, and then the door slid open: It was Mayu.

Naruto quickly closed his eyes and feigned sleep.

He didn't know what to make of his female teammate; though they'd been together for months now, she'd been avoiding him the whole time. In fact, ever since the mission with the bandits, she'd made an even more apparent effort to avoid talking to him. He didn't know what she was doing in his room, and he certainly didn't want to talk to her.

He heard Mayu's footsteps pad over to where he was lying down. There was a soft thunk as she set down what sounded like a small table – his dinner, perhaps.

 _Ah,_  Naruto thought. So that's why she was here.

But while he'd expected her to get up and leave right away, for some reason, she sat there in silence.

Too wary to fall asleep, Naruto waited, forcing his breathing to stay steady. It was only after some time had passed that at long last, he heard the sound of rustling fabric.

Suddenly, he felt a warm pair of hands wrap around his own. He tensed – and she squeezed.

"I'm sorry. I forgive you," Mayu whispered into the darkness. Then she got up and left the room, sliding the door closed behind her.

As soon as her footsteps had faded away, Naruto opened his eyes. He stared at his hand for a long time.

* * *

The next day, Naruto was feeling much better, and when the medic removed his bandages, saw that he was almost completely healed. When he saw how there was barely a scratch left on his chest, he inadvertently let out a sound of disbelief. Judging from how painful it had felt, he had thought the cut had been much deeper. He supposed that the shock and chaos of the moment had skewed his judgment, and Naruto felt a little silly for having delayed their return trip for so long over nothing. But just before they left the village the following day to begin going back to Konoha, the young boy he had saved came up to him.

"Thank you," said the boy – Taki, he had said was his name, looking up at Naruto. He had changed out of his blue yukata into black mourning robes. His face was downcast and his eyes were red – he was probably still reeling from the shock of losing his sister – but he was much calmer now. "Thank you," he repeated, and a single tear came leaking out of his eye. It slid down his round cheek.

Naruto nodded. He hesitated – and then did what he had seen other people do while trying to comfort those who were grieving: He patted the younger boy's head. It was his first time doing that, so he felt a little awkward as he did it. Yet for some reason, this seemed to make Taki even more upset, and the little boy's shoulders began to violently shake as tears silently streamed down his face.

By the time they finally left through the gates of the village however, the tears had dried, and Taki waved goodbye to Naruto, sniffling.

As they began to walk back to Konoha, Rai demanded to see Naruto's wound. When he lifted up his shirt to reveal his mostly-healed chest, Rai let out a snort, before slapping him hard on the back.

And so, without major incident and only a few days behind schedule, Team 7 finally returned home.

Despite everything that had happened to them, not much had changed in Konoha. The village people continued to go to the market in the mornings, and children still fought over who got to ride the swing in the playground.

Naruto was still the village pariah. As he grew older, he'd finally realized that the reason people avoided him could not simply be because of his appearance as he'd once feared. But the fact of the matter was, if he entered a store without using a henge, he still got charged double the ordinary price. If he strolled normally through the streets of the marketplace, people began to group together in clumps as they noticed his red hair and whisker marks. And if children got too close to him, their parents would drag them away, scolding them.

At one point, in a spark of inspiration, Naruto had wondered if perhaps his features really were a signature mark of an unpopular clan. But despite his best efforts, he'd found nothing about an Uzumaki clan in the Archives, and so, could only conjecture as to why he'd been singled out from such a young age. Having gotten used to the isolation long ago, it did not bother him as much as it might once have. To him, it had simply become an unquestionable law of his world.

And yet, despite everything that had stayed the same, he found that some things were not exactly the same.

Kakashi had begun to regularly drop by his apartment, even on days when they didn't have a mission. Sometimes, they would pick up where they had left off in previous discussions of chakra application. Other times, the jōnin would take him to the training field and teach him some new kenjutsu or ninjutsu moves. After Naruto kept asking him about the lightning-release technique he had used on Hidan, he even promised to start Naruto on learning a second nature affinity.

It wasn't just his team leader. Occasionally, Rai would bang loudly on his door, demanding to spar with him. It seemed that Rai couldn't get over the fact that Hidan had knocked him unconscious so quickly, and was determined to get better. And in return for some taijutsu tips from Naruto, Rai would help Naruto with target practice, teaching him how to fasten letter bombs to kunai in discrete ways that the opponent wouldn't notice.

Even Mayu sometimes joined in, though she never looked for Naruto by herself. She was always with either Rai or Kakashi – but she had begun to talk to him more and more with increasing bravado. Naruto wondered if it had something to do with the night back when he was healing, and she had whispered those words to him. Thinking back on what she had said, he had tried to figure out if he had ever wronged the girl, but couldn't think of anything. It was puzzling; he had a feeling that Mayu knew he had heard her words, and yet he couldn't bring himself to ask her.

Still, nowadays as he trained with his team, Naruto felt light in a way that he'd never felt outside of the Archives. Out in the training field, none of the other villagers were there; it was just them, the four members of Team Kakashi.

After a long hard day, they sometimes all went to Ramen Ichiraku for bowls of Konoha's finest ramen. The first time they went, Naruto had only stared in awe as Rai and Mayu squabbled over a piece of pork in one of their bowls.

"You said I could have it!" said Mayu with an uncharacteristically ferocious glint in her eyes.

"That was  _before_ I realized it was the last one!" said Rai, holding it out of the shorter girl's reach with his chopsticks held high over his head. Then, making sure she could see, he popped the strip of meat into his mouth.

With a cry of fury, Mayu threw her chopsticks, like shuriken, at him. Skillfully, Rai batted aside the chopsticks with his own – but then froze, as the ricocheting sticks of wood knocked over Kakashi's bowl. They looked on in horror as it crashed into the ground, its noodle contents pouring out over the ground.

Taking one look at the frozen smile on Kakashi's face, Rai jumped out of his seat and began to beg for forgiveness.

"Why does this always happen when you're around?" the owner asked Naruto, the edges of his mouth twitching. And for the second time, Naruto found himself apologizing to him.

And so, the months and seasons passed. Naruto's 11th birthday came and went with little fanfare, though to the entire team's shock, Mayu baked him a birthday cake. It was his first time eating cake, and while it was actually too sweet for his tastes, he found himself finishing his portion to the very last bite.

Best of all, however, was Kakashi's gift of a new tantō. Unlike the older one he'd been using, it was made of a special metal that would allow Naruto to channel his chakra into it. He made sure to polish it after every use.

* * *

Team Kakashi continued to go on missions, though nothing quite as eventful as the one in Yugakure occurred. With Mayu's new willingness to work with Naruto, their teamwork grew leaps and bounds and their missions became even easier to complete. That wasn't to say that their team was perfect: Though both Rai and Mayu were willing to go along with Naruto's direction, Rai sometimes lose focus, inadvertently deviating from the plan, and Mayu had a tendency to freeze up when anything unexpected happened.

But while Naruto may have once considered them to be in his way, now, he found himself thinking during his free time of how to help them improve.

It was some time into the new year, at the end of a particularly fruitful training session, when Kakashi told them that the Chūnin exams would soon be taking place in Sunagakure, the hidden village in the Land of Wind.

Hearing this, Naruto looked at his teammates, and they nodded back at him. He looked back at their sensei: Team Kakashi was going to be there, and if he had his way, they would all be passing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This marks the end of the first arc.


	8. Sand Ripples in the Wind

Naruto had never seen so much open space in one place before – or such a uniformity in color. As far as the eye could see, fields of golden sand stretched into the distance. The horizon was not straight, but humped with faraway dunes, and the intense, constant heat from the sun caused refractions in the air.

Sunagakure ( _Hidden Sand_ ) was not, in the strictest sense of the word,  _hidden_. Neither was Konohagakure ( _Hidden Leaf_ ), for that matter – the huge overhanging mountain with the busts of the Hokage carved into the cliff's face was a dead giveaway. But just like how Konoha was isolated by dense forests and mountains, Sunagakure's location was secured by the sheer extremity of its geographical surroundings. They had had to endure endless sandstorms and scale treacherous rocky cliffs for several days to reach the village. If any ordinary person or ignorant ninja had attempted the journey, they would surely have fallen long before the village's clay buildings came into view.

When Naruto and his team finally arrived at the gates of the village, they were directed towards a desert space encircled by a barbed fence. Inside were dozens of huge pieces of rock that jutted out from the sandy ground. As soon as the gate to the lot screeched open, he felt at least several dozen pairs of eyes immediately turn to glare at them.

Naruto had never seen such a large gathering of foreign ninja together in one place. Just judging from the hitai-ate of the nearest genin, he could tell there were at least four other villages here, including Amegakure ( _Hidden Rain_ ), Kusagakure ( _Hidden Grass_ ), Takigakure ( _Hidden Waterfall_ ), and of course Sunagakure ( _Hidden Sand_ ). Naruto shifted; the tension in the air was tangible.

"Ick, this place is disgusting," he overheard a genin from Takigakure complaining. "I've got mud all over my sandals."

"Let's hurry up and pass this stupid exam so we can go back home," her teammate grumbled.

"Confident, aren't they?" muttered Rai, from besides him. He, like the other two, were wearing thick cloth cloaks to protect them from the sun. He looked musingly around. "I wonder who the others from Konoha will be? I heard from my brother that some rookies are actually taking the exam this year."

"They must be really talented then," said Mayu uneasily. Her eyes darted around. "I know I definitely wouldn't have been ready for it when we graduated. I don't know if I'm ready now, actually..."

With a shake of his head, Rai squeezed her arm comfortingly. "You'll be fine. You've got me and Naruto backing you up."

Mayu's face remained pale, but she nodded.

While it was too early to say for sure, Naruto could already tell that the exam was not going to be a pushover; the other villages would have sent their best genin teams, and competition was going to be fierce. The question was, what kind of trials would they face? Different villages hosted the exam every time, and the tests were always different.

However, he had known this from the very beginning, and they had trained with this in mind. So long as Mayu didn't freeze up, Naruto felt reasonably confident that his team would be strong contenders. They would be able to weather whatever the test threw their way.

Probably.

"Nervous?" asked an unfamiliar voice from behind them. Naruto turned around. The approaching boy was wearing the hitai-ate of Konoha, but Naruto had never seen him around before. He looked several years older than them, with long hair tied back in a ponytail and a pair of circular glasses perched on his nose. "You're from Konoha too, aren't you?"

"Well...yeah," said Rai, tapping his own hitai-ate meaningfully.

"I'm Kabuto," he said, ignoring the cheek. "This is your first time taking the exam, isn't it? Is it your first time in Sunagakure too?"

"Yes..." Mayu gulped. "Is it obvious?"

Kabuto smiled. "Yep! You remind me of how I used to be."

"Is this your second time taking the exam, then?" asked Naruto.

"Nope...this is my fourth," he admitted. "This exam is held twice a year so this is my second year. It's my second time here in Suna as well."

Unable to detect a lie from the boy's tone of voice or his body language, Naruto felt himself losing interest; he doubted anyone truly competent would fail the chūnin exam twice, let alone three times in a row.

A glint of gleaming metal caught his eye, and turning slightly, Naruto saw the familiar leaf hitai-ate again on another boy. He was pale with long dark hair, and had the unmistakable clear eyes of the Hyūga clan. He seemed calm, though his fidgeting teammates looked a bit more nervous. Naruto looked him up and down; the Hyūga clan was rumored to be one of the strongest in Konoha. He wondered how the boy before them would measure up.

Mayu must have followed his gaze, for she commented, "They must be one of the rookies from the class after us. I don't recognize them."

"Yeah, they are," said Rai, perking up and turning away from Kabuto. Pointing at a girl with Chinese-style buns, he said, "The girl's Tenten. She's a weapons specialist like me; her dad used to train us together when we were young."

But before they could go over to talk to them, several clouds of swirling sand suddenly appeared at the entrance to reveal a group of Suna chūnin and jōnin.

Naruto gave them their full attention, quickly taking note of their standard Suna attire. At their head was what appeared to be their leader: He was very tall, towering over much of the other Suna ninja, and had two red markings on the side of his face. Half his face was covered by a turban-like head gear with a sheet hanging down, and the remaining half was contorted into a hard glare.

"Thank you all for waiting," began the man, looking around at them sternly. "My name is Baki, and I will be your examiner for the Chūnin Selection Exam's first test. You will now all be assigned a team number, in order of your arrival here." There was a murmur of uncomfortable assent. The chūnin examiners began to walk around, giving out plates with numbers on it.

Kabuto returned to his team, and Naruto and his team waited patiently for theirs, as they had been the second to last to arrive. Finally, when the chūnin arrived at their number, they received the number 79. Right after the Amegakure team following theirs received their number, Baki gathered their attention once more. "If you will look around you, you will notice the slabs of rock that have been placed in the field. Pick one, and gather around it with your team."

After a moment's pause to process the information, Naruto and his team walked over to the nearest rock. The others surrounding them all hurried to do the same. Each rock was about two meters wide, with another two meters radius separating the rock from the nearest surrounding rocks, making space rather limited between each team. Squinting his eyes against the sun, Naruto craned his neck backwards to look up at the rock. It was easily over five meters tall.

"The field has been divided into twenty sections, with four rocks of equal height in each, and a team surrounding each rock. Your objective is to protect your rock and keep it above ground level. There are five ways to fail this test. One, if your rock reaches ground level, your team automatically fails. Two, if, by the end of the time limit of one hour, your rock is at a lower height than any other rock in your section, your team will fail. Three, if you physically touch any of your opponents or their rocks, your team will fail. Four, if your whole team is deemed unable to proceed with the test, you will fail. And five, if you kill any of your opponents, you will automatically fail."

"What? So how do you pass?" hissed Rai.

Naruto had found that while Rai had many talents, swiftness of mind was not one of them. "Basically, we have to protect our rock from the other teams, and only one team out of every four, at the most, is going to pass. We'll have to attack the other team's rocks using jutsu or projectiles so that they're at a lower height than ours."

He looked at the teams of their adjacent three rocks, and saw that they too were sizing him up. One team was from Kusa, and the other two were from Suna. The deck was stacked against them; the teams from Suna were going to be operating in their natural environment. They probably knew everything there was to know about sand and rocks, and would be using this knowledge to their full advantage. Furthermore, it looked like this first test was going to be entirely a physical challenge, which would be problematic considering their team's strengths.

Naruto pondered the mammoth rocks before them. Rai's artillery alone would do little against the tough rocks, and Mayu's genjutsu would have no effect at all. His wind chakra was sharp, but he hadn't tried cutting through rock before - meaning that their best bet would probably be to take out the opposing genin.

Suddenly remembering something, Naruto knelt and picked up some of the sand. He rubbed it between his fingers, and while most of it fell to the ground, some of it stuck to his skin – it was slightly moist.

"So? What's the plan?" prompted Rai.

Naruto looked up to see that he and Mayu were looking at him expectantly. He glanced at the enemy genin; they didn't appear to be listening, but...

"We'll go with Plan E," he said, talking quickly. Baki, the jōnin, was opening his mouth. "Mayu, take the Kusa. Rai, take the closer Suna team."

"Begin!"

Immediately, a flurry of action and clanging filled the air.

As Naruto quickly formed the necessary seals with his hands, he saw that the Suna genin were focusing their attentions on attacking the rocks. The genin from Kusa, like his team, were already attacking their enemy genin directly. As a stream of shuriken embedded themselves in their unprotected rock, pieces of rock shattered and crumbled down.

Ignoring the attack, Naruto exhaled a small but powerful gale of wind from his mouth: "Fūton: Kyōfū ( _Wind Release: Gale_ )!" Whipping through the surrounding rocks, it careened towards the Suna team farthest from them. They jumped behind their rock, easily avoiding it. The wind blasted harmlessly against the rock, which wobbled, but otherwise remained stoutly standing.

Naruto smiled.

Meanwhile, Mayu had lowered her hood, and unclipped her hairclips, letting her hair fall around her shoulders. Her hands blurred into action, and as she stoked them to life with her chakra, the blue bird-shaped clips began to twitch and ruffle their feathers, swelling to twice their size. Stretching their wings, they took to the air.

Suddenly, there was a shout of pain as Rai managed to hit one of the Suna genin in both legs with shuriken. The genin fell to the ground, and several chūnin rapidly appeared by his side with a stretcher. As the incapacitated genin was taken away, in vengeance, the remaining two turned their attentions on Team Kakashi. One of them was a puppet-user, and she directed her scorpion-like puppet towards Rai. It scuttled rapidly towards him, its stinger gleaming with the promise of slow-working poison. Letting out a stream of swears, Rai pulled out another scroll of artillery.

Trusting his teammates to carry out their part of the plan, Naruto sat down behind the rock and closed his eyes. Making the appropriate hand seals, he concentrated on first shaping his chakra into being as thin as sharp as possible, before sending it trickling deep underground. Slowly but surely, he could feel the air pressure building up below him, and in reaction, something else began to surge upwards.

In the distance, he heard further screams of pain coming from the Kusa team and felt a glimmer of pride. Mayu's genjutsu operated through her blue birds – if a bird made physical contact with another person, they would immediately fall under her trap. She could cause them to feel any sensation, including intense pain. The Suna genin probably wouldn't have fallen for the trick, seeing as how they were familiar with the birds of the region, but the Kusa genin hadn't suspected a thing.

Now this left the two remaining Suna teams. Leaving Rai to handle one, Naruto fed an extra burst of chakra into the jutsu, and then finally gathered it all into a concentrated ball directly below them: "Fūton: Kihō ( _Wind Release: Air Bubble_ )!" Opening his eyes – blinking rapidly to adjust them once more to the sun – he inhaled deeply, rapidly forming the hand signals for his followup jutsu. When his lungs were full, he blew the same strong gust of wind towards the rock of the Suna team.

Once again, they prepared to leap behind their rock – and froze as they couldn't. Looking down, they found their feet submerged in quicksand. With a yelp of panic as the sharp wind blew towards them, they ducked down. The wind blew over their bodies, and smashed against the face of the rock. With looks of blatant relief, they straightened up – and then froze once more, as the rock teetered dangerously. Disbelief dawning on their faces as their bodies continued to be swallowed up by the quicksand, they helplessly looked up as the rock wavered back and forth above them. After a few seconds of dangerous indecision, the rock finally lost its battle against the combined force of gravity and an unsteady base. Only the genins' screaming heads were visible above the ground now, and with a groaning sound, its base rose out of the ground as it began to fall on the immobile genin.

Sweating from the effort, Naruto rapidly urged more of the air pressure to build up, which would in turn cause the underground water to gush up. Just before the rock hit the ground, the genins faces slipped below the watery quicksand with a slurping sound. There was a tense moment of silence, in which the sounds of the other battles around them seemed magnified. Finally, a second later, the three genins heads popped up again above ground from besides the rock, which floated on the surface.

Naruto exhaled. Their faces were smeared with mud, but they were alive. Hacking and coughing out mud, they limply floated in the quicksand.

Naruto had directed his wind chakra to squeeze in on itself underground, causing the gas particles to accumulate and increase pressure. As a result, the stores of water below ground had moved upwards to the surface by pure hydraulic pressure. Since they were in a desert, Naruto hadn't been expecting to have access to a source of water large enough to create quicksand, but to his surprise, there had been an abundant water source beneath them.

Due credit for the discovery had to be given to the genin from Takigakure who'd been complaining about the mud.

Sitting down on the ground besides their standing rock, Naruto saw that Mayu and Rai were already done. The genin from Kusa were all slumped around their rock, frothing at the mouth. Mayu's blue bird was chirping from on top of one their chests. The two other Suna genin struggled as they stood pinned against their rock with multiple kunai. A destroyed scorpion puppet lay in pieces by their feet.

Taking in the chaos of the quicksand, Rai raised his eyebrows. "You overdid it, Naruto."

Mayu was smiling, the color of her face returned to its normal shade. She raised a finger, and one of her birds landed on it.

Naruto regarded the remaining desert space. The chūnin examiners were collecting the incapacitated genin, and most of the battles were still going on. The pristine rows of rocks from barely ten minutes ago were already in shambles. Some of the rocks had been shattered into pieces, and he could see several genin moving feebly under the fragments. By the looks of it, less than twenty teams would be passing.

"Team 79 passes the first test," said Baki. "Standby for the second test."


	9. Deep, Dark, Crystal Cave

The teams that had managed to take out their opponent teams before the time limit were all gathered in a large room with rows of clay chairs. When Naruto and his team arrived, only one other team from Amegakure was there. Their eyes were bloodshot as they glared at team Kakashi, and in wordless agreement, they chose seats at the opposite end of the room.

As the minutes passed, the remaining teams came trickling in, each looking increasingly more bedraggled. With ten minutes left on the clock, he noticed the Konoha rookies coming in. Despite how long it had taken them, they did not seem particularly worn down and walked in with confident demeanors.

Rai noticed as well, and beckoning for Mayu and Naruto to follow him, he made his way over to the girl with Chinese-style buns. "If it isn't Tenten!"

The girl perked up at her name, but when she saw Rai, her face fell. "Oh...it's you."

"It's been a while," said Rai, ignoring her lack of enthusiasm. Naruto got the impression that this was not an unusual dynamic for them and wondered whether something had happened in their past. "This is Tenten, guys. These are my teammates, Mayu and Naruto."

Mayu shyly smiled at them.

"This is Hyūga Neji and Rock Lee," replied Tenten dutifully, gesturing to the two boys besides her. The one with the clear eyes had to be the Hyūga, meaning the one with the bushy eyebrows and the martial arts belt around his waist was Rock Lee.

"Nice to meet you! I am Rock Lee," said Lee, with a flashing grin and a thumbs-up. He seemed reasonably friendly, and hadn't reacted at all to Naruto's countenance the way other villagers did. On the other hand, Naruto had never seen him before, so it was possible that the boy was one of the war orphans who'd kept to the orphanage.

"You're Kakashi's team, aren't you?" said Neji, glancing at them coolly.

Lee visibly perked up. "What?! So you are the pupils of Gai-sensei's eternal rival?! You will make worthy opponents then!"

"Is Gai your team leader?" asked Mayu.

"Yes," answered Tenten, with a warmer smile for the other girl. "You guys must be the reason why Gai-sensei wanted us to take the exam this year as rookies."

Rai raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard of Gai though. Are you sure he and Kakashi-sensei are rivals?"

"Are you sure you have never heard of him?!" said Lee, his already circular eyes growing even wider than Naruto had thought possible. "He is the strongest jōnin in Konoha, with a record of – "

"You're Uzumaki Naruto?" interrupted Neji. The whole time, Naruto noted, his pale gaze had not wavered from him. "The one who graduated from the Academy two years early?"

Naruto blinked; he'd never heard anyone refer to him as such. "That's right," he said.

"He's our local genius, the kind born only once a generation, yadda yadda," said Rai, throwing an arm around Naruto. With a sly smile, he added, "Kinda like you Hyūga, I'd say."

"A genius?" echoed Lee; the words appeared to have struck a chord with him. "I'd like to challenge you to a fight sometime, then."

At that, Naruto turned towards Lee, taken aback. "This probably isn't the best venue for a fight," he said mildly. "You'll have to wait for a later test for an opportunity."

Neji's eyes narrowed. "You say that like you expect to win."

That hadn't been Naruto's intention, but thinking about it, he supposed it was true.

"As if Naruto would lose to some rookies like you," scoffed Rai.

With that, it seemed Tenten had had enough, for she seized her teammates firmly by the arms. "Will you drop it already? Let's go, guys."

Although Lee allowed himself to be dragged away, Neji brushed off Tenten's hand. Nonetheless, with another hard look in their direction, he left as well.

"You could've been a bit more friendly, Rai," said Mayu, watching them walk away.

Rai shrugged. "They were being too cocky for a bunch of rookies."

His teammates' voices fading into the background, Naruto's gaze followed the retreating backs of the rookies. He hadn't gotten much of an impression of Tenten besides the fact that she and Rai seemed to have a strange rivalry going on. Moving on, there was Lee. He seemed determined to make a name for himself, judging from the way he'd instantly challenged Naruto. His heavily bandaged fists also indicated strong resolve.

Lastly, Naruto's eyes flicked towards Neji. He had been a bit more scathing than expected, but Naruto felt impressed at his self-control. He'd thought when he saw him before that perhaps the calm attitude was all an act, but the first test had barely ruffled his feathers. The Hyūga boy was the real thing after all. Team Gai would all likely be strong contenders in the exam.

Naruto didn't mind; so long as they didn't get in the way of Team Kakashi, he thought that the more Konoha genin that passed, the better.

From a rough estimate, there were about eighteen teams seated in the room, about evenly distributed in terms of villages. Many of them looked weary, with purple bruises and scratches all around their body. Only a scant few seemed relatively untouched, like himself and his teammates. Simply judging from their lack of presence, compared to the Konoha rookies, they did not seem like they would be much of a challenge for him...

But looks could be deceiving. That was what being a ninja was all about, after all – blending in with the shadows and offering oneself as harmless so as to lower the enemy's guard. And then, just when the enemy had relaxed and left an opening, you struck.

Suddenly, he turned around as he felt a tendril of intensely cold blood lust creeping in from the entrance. A sandaled foot emerged from around the corner – and just as the bloodlust vanished as quickly as it had appeared, he saw Kabuto walk in, with his teammates trailing behind. Naruto closely examined the teammates, but they looked fairly ordinary with black masks covering most of their faces.

He wondered: Could this be an example of precisely what he'd been thinking of just moments ago? Of a snake, coiled around its unsuspecting prey, poised to strike with its poisonous fangs?

* * *

It turned out that Kabuto's team had been the last one to pass, for no one else had come in when a bell rang piercingly at the one-hour mark. As all the gathered genin simultaneously turned to look, a pair of doors that had been closed flung open with a bang. A file of Suna chūnin marched in, with a different jōnin at their head. He looked younger than Baki, with black hair that hung over his right eye.

"Congratulations on passing the first test of the Chūnin Selection Exam," said the jōnin, his indifferent expression belying his words. "My name is Yūra, and I will be your second examiner. Regardless of whether any of your teammates are capable or not, the second test will commence within the hour. But first, we will proceed to the venue for the second test."

Following the chūnin past the doors they had just come through, it was revealed to be a long tunnel-like hallway that sloped sharply downwards. The walls were made of sanded rock and it was dark, lit only occasionally by stone torches. As they shuffled in silence down the steps, Naruto looked around. The air was growing increasingly colder and damper, and the sputtering lights from the torches were growing weaker: it seemed the second test would be taking place underground.

Mayu stumbled besides him, and as Naruto reached out to steady her, he suddenly noticed how pale her face was.

"Are you alright?" he asked. He wondered if she had gotten injured during the first test, and whether it would be serious enough to affect them in the second test.

"Yeah...I just don't like feeling trapped in small spaces," she said, pulling away from him. Naruto exchanged looks with Rai, who tried to say something to her. She ignored him however, and for the rest of the journey, she didn't talk again.

After twenty minutes, the ground finally leveled out again and soon, they emerged into what appeared to be a narrow underground cavern. There were twelve gaping human-sized tunnel holes in the opposite rock wall. A torch burned besides each entrance.

Naruto immediately realized the nature of the second test: It was likely going to be some sort of maze. Besides him, Mayu must have come to the same conclusion, for she began to tremble.

"I will now explain the details of the second test. And then, before starting, I will need everyone here to sign these agreement forms," said Yūra, standing in the middle of the cavern. With a rustling sound, one of the chūnin pulled out a sheaf of papers and began passing them out. "There will be deaths in this test, and it won't be against the rules this time. So if I don't have you sign these, it will become my responsibility." It was silent. "In this test, it will be a survival of the fittest. Each team will enter the maze through a tunnel in the order that they passed the first test. Here are some details about the maze: we are two hundred feet below ground level, and if you take the correct path all the way through, it is about three kilometers long before ending up at the surface. All the tunnels intersect one another at multiple points. Using whatever weapons and jutsu you have available, your objective will be to obtain two team plates. This includes your own team plate, so if you manage to protect yours, you need only secure one other one. If your team plate is taken, you will need the team plates of two other teams. To pass this test, you and your team must reach the end of this maze with two team plates."

"They're cutting us at least in half now..." A genin grumbled.

"There is also a time limit. This second test will last 120 hours, which is exactly five days. You will be given a torch, but there are other sources of light within the maze. As for food and water...well, you'll have to figure that out on your own," Yūra's eyes gleamed maliciously. "Those who cannot learn to adapt will die from the harshness of the course. Now, I will talk about what will disqualify you. First, those that don't make it to the end of the tunnel with two plates within the time limit. Second, anyone who creates their own tunnels that reach to the surface. And third, anyone who destroys a team plate."

A genin from Amegakure raised his hand. "What if not everyone on our team survives?"

"Your objective is to reach the end of the tunnel with two plates," said Yūra. "Even if you are the only surviving member of your team, you will pass if you complete this requirement." He gestured towards a copy of the form in his hand. "That is all, so after signing the form as a team, go stand by one of the entrances. One team per entrance only."

As the genin signed the forms, Naruto stared down at the paper in his hand. The second test was very telling of the remainder of the exam, as well as the code that the shinobi of Suna lived by. It was apparent that for Suna, the accomplishment of a mission took precedence over the lives of the ninja – failure was not an option. Furthermore, the fact that the entire team was not required for completion of the second test indicated that the third part of the exam, unlike the first two, would test individuals. The third test would likely pit the remaining contenders against one another in direct battles.

"Do you think any of these tunnels are easier than the others?" mused Rai. By the time they'd handed in their forms, half the teams had already picked an entrance. They now waited outside one of the tunnels, tensely waiting for the rest.

"Possibly," said Naruto. "But he said that they intersect, so it's unlikely to matter." He looked at Mayu, who had stopped shaking during the explanation but was still pale. He hesitated, searching for the right words; he still wasn't used to comforting people. "The tunnels should widen, so it shouldn't be too bad, Mayu."

"Thanks," she said with a weak smile, but remained quiet.

Naruto supposed it could've been worse.

Since the team from Amegakure had been the first to pass, they were the first to disappear into the gaping black hole. As the sounds of their footsteps faded, a chūnin examiner walked up to Naruto and his team and marked their team number by the entrance. Rai lifted a torch from its handle.

"Good luck," Kabuto called out good-naturedly from two entrances away. His masked teammates besides him looked at them sullenly.

Naruto was spared from having to respond when, just then, Yūra gave them the signal to go. Taking a step forward, they walked into the darkness.

The light from the cavern behind them quickly faded, and the tunnel began to curve slightly to the right. When they turned the corner, the cavern completely disappeared from view and the only light now came from the torch in Rai's hand. However, the fire was weak and was barely strong enough to light up the path directly in front of them. Naruto wondered how long it would last. The wood was burning slowly but surely, and Naruto estimated that unless the chūnin examiners were going to stroll over and replace them for them – which was extremely unlikely – it would burn out within several hours. Then, they would be left in the pitch dark. Having trained in the dark before, Naruto wasn't worried, but he wondered how Mayu would fare.

"Do you hear something?" Rai suddenly said.

Naruto stopped, and listened carefully. Sure enough he could hear something echoing far ahead. It sounded like dripping. "It's probably water."

"Water? Down here?"

"Remember how we had to climb those mountains to reach Suna?" said Naruto patiently. "Mountains are just tilted layers of porous sedimentary rocks, and they usually run under the desert. Whenever it rains or snows, they soak into the layers, creating reservoirs of groundwater. The water should be safe to drink too."

During his preparation for the exam, Naruto had made sure to put aside a day in the Archives to research the prominent geography of Wind country, and was now glad he'd done so.

"Well, if you say so," Rai shrugged. "So now that the issue of water's solved, what's the plan for food and this maze?"

"There'll probably be some animals that we can eat around here," Mayu said suddenly. As Naruto had predicted, the tunnels had gradually widened in diameter as they walked further inside, and it seemed she felt better with more space around them. "I think we should find food and water first, before anything else."

Naruto nodded. "And after dealing with food, we should find a secure location. It'll be difficult finding somewhere truly hidden inside these tunnels, so we should look for a place with more space to prepare an ambush. For tonight though, we should conserve our energy and just rest. Other teams will be worked up and trying to attack one another first, and they'll be easy pickings for us later on."

They picked up their pace, and soon saw a pale blue light in the distance. When they reached the light, they found themselves emerging from the narrow tunnel into a large cavern that was easily three times the size of the one they had left before. The ground was clustered with large boulders and the walls were lined with something that was emitting the light. As the other two gawked up at the sheer size, Naruto cautiously went over to the wall. Touching it, he realized what Yūra had meant by 'other sources of light.' It was a soft and mossy type of plant that he had never seen before, and it glowed, washing the cavern in watery blue light.

All of a sudden, Mayu let out a cry of alarm. Immediately, Naruto spun around to face her – and saw something small and black streaking out from behind a grey boulder.

Rai threw a kunai; striking the thing right in its chest, it let out a small squeal before slumping on the ground. Stepping forward, he nudged it with its feet: It was a small furry mole-like creature with a pink snout. "Looks like we've found our dinner."

* * *

Naruto eventually found the source of the dripping water to be a crack in the wall. Chipping holes into fist-sized rocks with their kunai, they took turns collecting water. Then, after hunting down several more of the mole-like animals, they nestled themselves behind a boulder with their findings. After Rai skinned the animals, Naruto had just begun to ponder how to cook the meat over their dying torch when Mayu revealed something about herself that took him by surprise.

"Your chakra nature is fire?" asked Naruto. On further thought, he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. The fire chakra nature was common among shinobi of Konoha after all. But she had never before demonstrated knowledge of any fire-based techniques.

Mayu nodded shyly. "I'm not very good at it though, so I usually stuck to genjutsu."

"How does it work?"

"Well...I gather the chakra in my stomach and then kind of put pressure on it, heating it up. Then when it's ready, I blow it out, and I... Here, let me show you." Her hands moving quickly to make the signs, she blew lightly on the wooden torch: "Katon: Takibi ( _Fire Release: Bonfire_ )!"

A stream of fire came out from her mouth which, though on the weak side, nevertheless strengthened the torch's flame to a respectable level.

"That's handy," Naruto said, beginning to think of how he could incorporate this unexpected ability into their future plans.

For some reason, Mayu turned pink at that, and avoided his gaze for a while.

After cooking the meat over the torch and eating it – it was stringy but edible – they had just put out the fire and covered their tracks, when another team entered the cavern. Naruto, hearing their foreign footsteps, noticed first, and quieted the two down immediately with a raised fist. As Rai and Mayu lowered their bodies against the ground, Naruto crept to the side of the boulder and peered around its edge. When he saw who it was, some of the tension left his body, but he remained hidden.

The rookies of Konoha wandered through the cavern, looking just as amazed by the light-emitting moss as they had been.

"Amazing! Truly, this is a springtime of youth!" said Lee, punching the air.

Tenten shushed him. "Is there another team here, Neji?"

Naruto saw the Hyūga boy turn around, and immediately noticed that the veins around his temple were bulging: His Byakugan was activated. The boy looked directly at the boulder where Naruto and his team were currently hiding behind, and smirked.

"Yeah...but lucky for them, we'll leave them alone for now," said Neji. "Come on, let's find another place to find shelter."

His teammates nodded without protest, and they leaped to the exit on the other side of the cavern.

Once it was safe, they came out of hiding.

"I really hate that guy," Rai muttered.

Though they couldn't see the sun, they could feel in their bodies that the hour was getting late. Taking into consideration Mayu's poor condition, it was down to between Naruto and Rai to take the first watch. While Mayu crawled into a sleeping bag she'd summoned from a scroll, Naruto and Rai looked at one another.

The other boy jerked his head. "Go on, I'll stand watch first. I'm not sleepy anyways."

* * *

Laying down on the ground and looking up at the dark ceiling, Naruto wondered whether the sun had set yet. While his internal clock told him that it was likely around six in the evening, it'd probably been thrown off an hour or two since they'd traveled to Wind country. Truthfully speaking, he couldn't wait for this test to be over, so they could return to the surface. Before going to sleep, he usually liked watching the sunset from his window. Not being able to see the sky was unsettling.

He had just been about to drift to sleep when suddenly, a voice spoke up near his head.

"Hey, Naruto," whispered Rai. "You awake?"

His eyes snapped open, instantly alert. Despite the glow of light from the moss, it was dark enough that all he could make of Rai was a vague body outline. "What is it?"

"...I just wanted to know...what'd you do to Mayu?"

He'd never heard Rai speaking in such a serious tone before; somewhat alarmed, he asked, "What do you mean?"

There was a pause. "You wouldn't know it, but I've known her my whole life, so I know...Once she decides something, it's pretty much impossible to change her mind." Another pause. "Mayu didn't like you, did you know that?"

"I had an inkling," Naruto said drily.

"Actually, everyone I know hates you for some reason, so I figured you must've done something really bad - " Rai abruptly broke off when Mayu shifted. For a moment, it was silent; and then her soft, steady breathing resumed. He cleared his throat. "Anyways...do you remember that day when we had to fill out our birthdays in a calendar at the Academy?"

"What about it?"

"That's when I realized that, well." Rai hesitated. "I guess you already know that you were born on the day of the Nine-tails attack. I was really young so I barely remember it, but my parents were killed on that day. And it's stupid, but...you kinda look like a fox with your whiskers, so it used to give me the creeps."

Naruto blinked, taken aback despite himself.  _The Nine-tails._  He had once wondered as well whether he was an orphan because of that attack. But for some reason, he'd never even considered it as a possible link to the reason behind his ostracisation.

His head beginning to throb, he massaged his temples, and as such, he almost missed Rai's following words.

"Still, you know...whatever anyone else says, we definitely wouldn't have made it this far without you. And," Rai added in a grudging tone, "I don't know what you did, but I think even Mayu kinda likes you now."

With that, Naruto heard Rai rise to his feet and he walked a distance away.

All was silent, except for the sound of steady breathing. Naruto lay still. He wondered why Rai had told him this, and what it was that he wanted from him. He opened his mouth, but couldn't think of anything to say, so he kept quiet.

Since they had put out the fire, it was cold in the cave.

But it also felt just a bit warm. Probably due to the heat emitting from the moss, he thought to himself.


	10. Dark Clouds Approach

When Naruto opened his eyes, he was momentarily disoriented by the glowing blue lights around him before he remembered where he was. They were somewhere deep under Sunagakure, in the midst of the maze of the second test. They had figured out how to get water, food, and had found shelter for the night. Now, they would have to decide how to fulfill the second set of requirements of the exam: Obtaining another team's number plate while protecting their own.

As he grew more alert, he was shaken out of his thoughts when his nose picked up the aroma of roasting meat wafted through the air. His stomach growled, and he got up, sniffing the air. Turning around, he saw Mayu sitting beside a small makeshift campfire; from the looks of it, she had prepared breakfast as they slept. Much of the color in her face had returned, and judging from the small smile on her face, she certainly felt better. She was currently turning several stone sticks skewered through meat and what looked like yellow vegetables over the flickering fire.

Naruto sat down on the ground besides Rai, who gave him a nod but otherwise – to his relief – made no indication of the conversation they had shared the previous night. Instead, sharing identical looks of gratitude as Mayu offered them their portions, they dug in. It was quiet for several minutes as they ate, watching the shadow of their fire dancing on the moss-covered walls.

Finally, Rai spoke up. "Now that we're rested and all," He viciously tore a chunk of meat off of his stick, "Ish shtime to shake outh some rootkies, yeah?"

Mayu frowned. "That's disgusting."

Rolling his eyes, Rai began to chew even more noisily than before.

Ignoring them, Naruto decided to dive straight into business. "It's been about thirteen hours since the test began, leaving us with just under 110 hours. We can either wait for the last two days, or strike fast and finish early. If we wait it out, it's likely that we'll get our choose of the pickings among the weaker teams still remaining."

"But the ones who still haven't passed at that point might be more desperate...more dangerous," Mayu pointed out, her pink face tinged with worry. "And on top of capturing another plate, we also have to start thinking about reaching the surface, right...?" Trailing off, she turned to Naruto searchingly.

It hadn't escaped his notice how Mayu had begun to speak up in their discussions; it was a welcome change to the wall he'd once felt like he was talking at.

"Desperation breeds desperate measures," he said. "So we should try and finish this quickly and early. And like you said" – Mayu's face brightened – "it'll be best to start mapping out the maze while keeping an eye out for enemy teams and booby traps. Every time the tunnels diverge, we'll mark the path we took, and if we come across it again we'll take the other path."

Sweeping sand over their campfire, they quickly concealed all signs of their overnight presence. Working under the assumption that Neji would have used his Byakugan to choose the best possible route, they then left the blue cavern through the same tunnel Naruto had seen the rookies go through the day before.

As the dimly lit pathway rapidly decreased in diameter, they were forced to walk closer together. Naruto felt Mayu shudder, and picked up their pace. Soon, however, they stopped, as the tunnel forked into two different paths: One widened out and sloped upwards, while the other narrowed and sloped downwards.

"So...which one will it be?" said Rai, eyeing the two paths. Mayu wordlessly edged towards the wider path, making her preference obvious. "Yeah, but...that's exactly what they'd expect us to take, right?"

Without responding, Naruto positioned himself directly in the middle of the fork and closed his eyes. He raised both of his arms – and then a moment later, opened his eyes. He began to head down the wider path, and motioned for his teammates to follow him.

"I can feel a slight breeze coming from this path," he explained when he saw the questioning looks on their faces. "The air from the other side is still, so it's likely a dead end."

They shared bemused looks but trusted his judgment.

However, while they navigated through the tunnels of the underground maze, they were forced to resort to a wide variety of tactics. Mayu sent out her bluebirds ahead of them, and they provided a constant stream of information, which, though limited, was helpful in sketching out their mental map of the caves. Rai kept a sharp eye out for signs of fights and scuffles as well as keeping track of which tunnels they had already went down. Meanwhile, when Naruto wasn't able to discern any difference between the wind currents of a split in the pathway, he sent out a shadow clone down one while they walked down the other.

After several hours, during which they made fast progress, Naruto suddenly came to a halt and winced. One of the shadow clones he had sent out twenty minutes ago had just fallen into a pit full of fat larvae before promptly dissipating. Shivering at the sensation of crawling all over his body, he narrowly almost missed the extra shadow that flickered behind them.

Without reacting or changing his expression, Naruto began to walk again. Raising his hand to brush a lock of his hair out of his eyes, he twitched his pinky. Glancing sideways, he made eye contact with Rai, who gave an imperceptible nod. Dramatically making groaning sounds, Rai slumped down on the ground.

"Man, I'm starving," he complained. "It's about time for lunch, isn't it? We've come pretty far, let's find some food now!"

"I agree," said Naruto, crossing his arms. "Let's take a break for now."

"Well, alright then," said Mayu. "I'll collect some vegetables, so how about you two get the moles?"

"Sounds good," said Rai, pulling out a kunai and twirling it in his hand. "C'mon, Naruto. Let's go find some... _moles_." At his last words, he jumped up and disappeared. A moment later, he reappeared at the opposite end of the tunnel, holding his kunai to the neck of a dark-skinned male genin.

At the same time, Naruto swiftly threw a shuriken up at the ceiling. The other genin who had been hanging above them, a stocky blond male, managed to avoid the shuriken as he scuttled down the wall to the ground. Without a look back at his teammate, he fled to the nearest hole and disappeared. Naruto didn't move, watching the hole expectantly. Several seconds later, there was a yelp of shock and pain from the direction the genin had ran to. The sound of something being dragged across rough ground reverberated through the hollow tunnel, and soon, his shadow clone emerged, dragging the unconscious genin behind him by his collar. The shadow clone tossed the body to the ground beside where Rai stood with the other struggling genin.

They tied the two genin together against a boulder, and as Mayu searched their bodies for their team plate, Naruto looked around the surrounding tunnels warily. Judging from their hitai-ate, they were from Takigakure, but it looked like they were just a two-man team. When he had first detected their presences behind him, he had thought that perhaps their third member was farther behind and acting as backup. But he couldn't detect a third presence anywhere, meaning that their third member was either too far away, or that they had somehow lost their third member. Naruto played with the idea that their third had managed to conceal their presence from him, but he dismissed that almost instantly; though poorly lit with ample shadows to hide in, these tunnels were far too narrow and cramped for anyone to continuously hide from him for this long.

"Where's your third? Is he waiting to ambush us, or what?" Rai voiced Naruto's thoughts, nudging the dark one who was still conscious.

The genin scowled ferociously, glaring at them through narrowed eyes. "Like I'd tell you little br...ow, ow!" He broke off as Naruto's shadow clone shoved him down with his foot.

Naruto kneeled beside the genin, and looked him directly in the eye. As the genin watched with horror growing in his eyes, he then pressed the tip of his kunai against the inside of the genin's fingernail, putting in just enough pressure to induce pain. "First it'll be your fingernails, and then your fingers...that is, unless you talk. Where is your other teammate?"

"Didn't you hear me the first time?" the genin spat at his feet. "You're not gonna get nothing outta – " he broke off and let out a howl of pain as Naruto thrust his kunai up. With a sick popping sound, his nail fell off.

"Naruto!" said Mayu, her face pale. She stepped forward, but Rai held her back. He looked a little green as well, but his jaw was set.

"That was just a fingernail," said Naruto softly. The genin's eyes widened, tears of pain leaking out. "Imagine how much more it would hurt if I did that to a finger."

"Alright, alright! She's not here, we ditched her!" he yelped. "We don't know where she is!"

Naruto stood up; he could tell from his body language that the genin was telling the truth – or at least, believed it. Swinging his kunai up, he hit the head of the genin with its blunt end, knocking him out. The genin's head crumpled down against his chest.

He looked up to see Mayu staring at him with wide eyes. Internally, he let out a sigh as he saw something in her face that he hadn't seen in a while – fear.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked.

"We're ninja, Mayu," snapped Rai. "This is what we do. Stop being such a baby."

Mayu didn't respond. Instead, she put the hood of her cloak up over her head.

Rai grabbed the team plate she had been clutching in her hand; the number 44 was engraved on it. He tossed it into the air, and then grabbed it before tucking it into his pocket. "Ha! That was easy."

* * *

Leaving the trussed up genin behind them, they silently walked through the dark tunnel while Naruto's shadow clone slunk back into the darkness to trail them. As Naruto watched Mayu stiffly move away from him, he felt his heart sink a little. He didn't feel any remorse for having handled the situation in that way; torture was a proven and surefire way of quickly retrieving necessary information. But he wondered if he should have held back for Mayu's sake.

It was unfortunate that despite her valuable skill of perception, she had always been the least desensitized of the three and the most averse to solutions to situations that required violence. Naruto sometimes questioned whether she was truly suited for the life of a ninja; as someone who clearly didn't have the heart or the stomach for a ninja's work, it was a wonder how she'd come into it in the first place. Not for the first time, he wondered what he would do if Mayu ever got in the way of a mission. So far, it hadn't proved to be much of an issue, but the missions that awaited them in the future could only be filled with more bloodshed.

Suddenly, Naruto came to a halt. In one sleek motion, he pulled out his tantō from its sheath as the memories of his shadow clone flooded his mind; it had just been attacked from behind. The last thing it had seen before disappearing was a flash of white.

Before he could let out a warning, a high-pitched voice called out from behind them: "Stop right there!"

Shock flooding his system, Naruto spun around, dropping into an offensive stance. Besides him, his teammates mirrored his actions. However, the genin that they saw remained calm and seemingly defenseless even as she casually walked towards them. She had short, spiky hair and curious orange eyes. Naruto's eyes flickered to the hitai-ate slung around her right arm; the waterfall symbol of Takigakure stared back at him. That, and judging from the way she was alone, she was likely the third teammate that had been abandoned by the genin they'd captured their plate from. Naruto's grip on the tantō in his hand tightened. His shadow clone hadn't even sensed her coming up behind him. He had thought that was impossible in such a closed space...

He could feel it in his bones: Despite her seemingly harmless exterior, his every nerve was screaming that she was dangerous.

There was something foreign about the girl that caused a chill to wrack his body: Foreign, and yet at the same time, somewhat familiar. But before he could puzzle over it further, his teammates sprung into action beside him. Rai released a barrage of shuriken at the girl, while Mayu's bluebirds shrilled, taking off into the air.

Dodging the shuriken, the girl picked up speed and began to run towards them. Jumping up over the birds, her hands blurred as she opened her mouth: "Hiden: Rinpungakure no Jutsu ( _Secret: Hiding in Scale Powder Technique_ )!"

Prepared to counter it, Naruto gathered his chakra into his lungs, his hands blurring through the signs: "Fūton: Daitoppa ( _Wind Release: Great Breakthrough_ )!" He blew, expelling a strong wind from his lips.

However, to his surprise, what came out of her mouth was something powdery that sparkled, lighting up the tunnel around them. Before Naruto could wonder at its purpose, it made itself clear as the powder rapidly brightened into an intense light akin to that of the afternoon sun, sending searing hot pain into his eyeballs. Rai howled in agony besides him, and Naruto shut his eyes reflexively. He heard the wind he had exhaled continue blowing through the tunnel, but it was too late – the powder had done its work. Opening his eyes, he could only see throbbing circles of yellow and orange that threw him off balance; he staggered.

"Shouldn't have done that!" said the girl. Judging from her voice, she was standing right in front of them, and yet, to his growing alarm, Naruto couldn't sense her presence at all.

"What the hell is this?!" Rai snarled. The intense white light was gradually dimming, but Naruto could still only make out, at best, several blobs around him.

"The name's Fū," she said. "That was my Scale Powder technique, but don't worry, the effects aren't permanent. Usually, anyways. Well, I'm just here to get my team plate back. So, which one of you has it?" Rai must have given himself away with an involuntary twitch, for the girl immediately pounced on him. "Ah, so you do!" There was a muffled yelp and a rustle of clothing. "Thanks. See ya laters, alligators!" There was a pause. "Or not."

His vision was restored enough now so that he could see a faint shadowy figure bouncing up and running away from them. Rai made to get up, but Naruto held out a hand to stop him.

Rai growled in frustration. "What is it?!"

"Don't," panted Naruto. "We're at a disadvantage right now. It'll be easier to obtain another team's plate than to try and attack her – it isn't worth the effort."

Rai let out another snarl of anger, spitting on the ground, but sat back down. "Damn that girl." Picking up a pebble from the ground, he flung it at the wall. "And that genin bastard. He lied to us! I'm gonna kill him!"

"I don't think he was," said Mayu quietly. "They were probably traveling separately."

"Why the hell would they do that, when she's got that technique?"

But none of them had an answer for that.

Once their vision was finally restored, they began to press forward again. However, Mayu soon stopped them as her birds informed her that there was an impassable pit up ahead, and they turned around. As they silently walked back along the same path, Naruto's mind buzzed over the recent unexpected turn of events.

He hadn't taken the exam seriously enough, obviously. The other team's plate had initially been as easy to capture as expected, but they'd barely had time to even look at the number before it'd been taken back by that girl – she'd said her name was Fū. He hadn't been able to gauge her offensive ability, but she'd exuded a kind of confidence that only came with years of experience. Naruto had chosen not to follow her, explaining it to his teammates that their time would be better spent hunting down other teams, but he had to wonder – had it been influenced by doubt...by fear, at all? He didn't doubt his own abilities. He believed that in a direct confrontation, he could take the girl down so long as he avoided her strange powder.

Nevertheless, something about her unsettled him.

With Rai still fuming and Naruto lost in contemplation, Mayu was the first one to spot the obstacle in their path. She let out a small ' _oh!_ ' of surprise, and stopped. Returning to his senses, Naruto peered ahead at the dimly lit path, and saw the two genin they had left behind still tied to the boulder. From the way they were sitting, he could tell that the blonde – the one he had knocked out – was still unconscious. However, the dark-skinned one that Rai had handled was now awake, and glared at them hatefully. A trickle of blood had dried halfway down his face.

"Did she not see them or something...?" muttered Rai, walking over and nudging the blonde experimentally with his foot. He turned to the dark-skinned genin. "Oi, did your third teammate pass by?"

"That... _thing's_  not a teammate of mine," the genin said coolly. Despite his obvious anger, he seemed more level-headed and in control than his teammate.

Rai scratched his head. "Well, she took your team plate back from us," he confessed. "Wouldn't it have been logical for her to have freed you guys while she was at it?"

"Monsters aren't logical."

"'Monster'?" repeated Naruto. He noticed Mayu stiffening in surprise beside him, but ignored it. "What do you mean?"

The genin looked up directly at Naruto, and for a moment, he thought that the genin wasn't going to respond. Next to him, the blonde genin suddenly twitched, his eyelids fluttering as they struggled to open. He let out a low moan.

The genin's features twisted into one of utter loathing, and his eyes burned with a look that Naruto somehow found familiar. "She's a  _jinchūriki_."

"What's a jinchūriki?" asked Rai.

Just then, the blonde jerked and his eyes snapped open. Looking around wildly, he spotted Naruto standing by with his arms crossed and flinched. Gradually, as he took in the scene, a look of horror began to dawn on his face.

"She's got a monster sealed inside of her...she's Takigakure's weapon," explained the genin. Upon hearing his teammate, the blonde's head whipped back as though he'd been slapped.

"Mushimi! What're you doing?!" he hissed. "That's a village secret...and what about the plan?!"

"I don't care," the genin, Mushimi, growled. "That thing killed my parents before they sealed it away. I want it dead. And I have my doubts about the plan."

The blonde's mouth dropped open. "I know how you feel! But remember what Haike-sensei said to us about telling anything to outsiders! Do you even realize what you're doing right now?!"

"If it means I have to betray our village, so be it." The conviction rang loud and clear in his voice.

"By  _monster_...what do you mean?" asked Naruto slowly.

As Mushimi opened his mouth, the blonde genin struggled in vain to release himself from his bindings. "Shut up! Mushimi!"

"A tailed beast. The Seven-tails," said Mushimi, glaring up at them. "So go tell your village and your Hokage. Go tell them that Takigakure's raising up a weapon, in order to become one of the five great villages. Come and destroy it for us."


	11. Confrontation of the Black Shadow

_October 10th, the day of Naruto's eight birthday and every birthday before that, was Memorial Day at Konoha. It was always a cold, dark and somber day, as though the skies themselves were in mourning. The sun hid itself behind its clouds, which loomed heavily and slowly over the village. The villagers, all garbed in black, gathered around the memorial marker for the fallen heroes of the day the Nine-tails attacked._

_Even at the Academy, there was always a special history lesson to begin the day for every class. The year before, when Naruto had been in Iruka's class, the chūnin had recounted for them how the shinobi of the village had fought bravely, holding off the Nine-tails from the rest of the village as they waited for the Fourth to arrive. Then, they had a moment of silence, before they resumed normal class activities._

_But Naruto had been transferred to a new class two years his senior, and he found this year that his new instructor, a chūnin named Mizuki, conducted the lesson rather differently. Glossing cursorily over what the ninja had done, the man seemed to relish in describing the Nine-tails in detail. According to him, it was a colossal leviathan and each lashing tail rained destruction on the world every time it was swung. It was an uncontrollable force of nature, with fangs as long as a grown man and eyes that seethed with the burning fires of hell. The Nine-tails was a roiling, churning ball of evil, with only one intention in mind: to destroy anything and anyone in its path._

_A student raised his trembling hand and asked, "But the Fourth killed it, right sensei?" A murmur of uncomfortable agreement spread throughout the classroom. The students had all of course grown up hearing in their bedtime stories about the monster that had terrorized the prior generation, but they'd never had reason to fear it._

_Because always, at the end of every story, their mother or father had finished the story by saying,_ " _The Fourth Hokage, a hero who loved his village and who was loved by the village, was able to protect us. At the cost of his life, he defeated the Nine-tails so that the future generation...so that you, could in turn grow up to be fine shinobi and continue protecting Konoha." With a kiss to their forehead, and a click as the light turned off, they had always fallen asleep with smiles on their faces and dreams of becoming the next hero to save their village._

_But a strange, sly smile stretched across Mizuki-sensei's face as he heard the student's question._

" _Well," he said, "the Fourth certainly...dealt with it for us. And that is why he is today, a hero." The chūnin bowed his head downwards in a show of respect, and all the students automatically copied his gesture. However, just before Naruto obediently complied, Mizuki tilted his head and glanced in his direction. And for a moment, Naruto thought that the chūnin's eyes had lingered on him with a cold glint. But an instant later Mizuki's gaze moved on to look fondly over the students. After a moment's hesitation, Naruto thought it more likely the fault of his overactive paranoia: Mizuki-sensei had treated him fairly over the past year, and seemed to bear no ill will against him. It wouldn't do for him to poison the opinion of his instructor, when he had so little support as it was._

_As he lowered his head, Naruto wondered briefly what Mizuki-sensei had meant by 'dealt.' He hadn't directly answered the student's question – could that mean that the Nine-tails was still alive and roaming the wilderness? Naruto's head hurt at the possibility, and he instantly dismissed it. The Fourth had been too great a man to have simply chased the beast away. He would have dealt with it in the best way possible for the village. And what else could that be, but to kill such an untamable monster?_

* * *

Team Oboro, hailing from Amegakure, never even saw it coming. Their plan had been to wait to the midpoint of the exam, so that the strongest teams would have finished and the weaker teams would have worn themselves out. They were still in top-shape and pumped for action by then, and with their nearly-perfected strategy of genjutsu and clone techniques, procuring a plate from the first exhausted genin team – from Suna, as it were – that passed by had been like taking candy from a baby. Armed with the necessary plates and the intelligence that their allied Ame team had given them prior to the exam, they'd been on course to reaching the exit of the maze and passing the second exam with ease.

If they hadn't gotten so caught up in the elation of their seemingly imminent success, they might have lasted a few seconds longer.

Their first indication of danger was when Mubi dropped his umbrella on the ground with a clatter. The boy himself quickly followed after, convulsing uncontrollably on the ground as white froth bubbled out from the side of his mouth. Reacting instinctively, Kagari and Oboro jumped away from their teammate, just in time to avoid the two kunai that now embedded themselves harmlessly in the ground.

Kagari's and Oboro's hands both blurred: "Bunshin no Jutsu  _(Clone Technique)_!" As several clones appeared around them with swirling clouds of mist, they rapidly continued to form seals in succession: "Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu  _(Earth Release: Earth Swim Technique)_!" The earth below them turned fluid, and the two rapidly sunk below its depths, leaving behind their clones. Sure enough, a few seconds later, the tremors of unmistakable battle filtered through the earth towards them. Oboro turned to Kagari, who nodded back at him, his eyes narrowed from behind his rebreather.

The two burst back up to the surface, spinning in midair as their umbrellas rapidly spat out poison-tipped needles in opposite directions. All around them, as they stood back-to-back in their practiced stances, their sacrificial clones burst into mist. Oboro blinked at the dark clearing around them.

"Where are they?!" he hissed, looking around rapidly. Given that they hadn't even sensed their enemy creeping up on them, he hadn't expected to take them out so easily – but he hadn't expected the enemy to simply not be there. But all he could see was Kagari's anxious face besides his and – what was that small blue thing fluttering around above them next to that stalactite? Wait, was that a  _bird_? This far underground?

Before he could even open his mouth to yell out a warning however, his remaining teammate dropped like a stone besides him, white froth creeping out from his orifices.

Oboro felt his heart sink as he remembered the promise he'd made to his younger brother before he'd left the village. Quickly making up his mind, he threw his umbrella down on the ground and raised his hands.

"I surrender," he said loudly. "Just let me and my teammates live and I'll give you our plates." Just as his eyes flicked down to his left pocket, he saw a flash of red above him. His heart thudded sickeningly. And then everything turned black.

* * *

Naruto didn't know what to think, and this – there were no other words for it – simply bewildered him. He was no stranger to pain, and over time, he had gotten into the habit of analyzing the cause of everything that hurt him. He reasoned that to minimize pain, he had to understand it. But what he was feeling now wasn't the usual kind of pain, which was sharp and obvious. Instead, what he felt now was a blunt axe that hacked away at the fraying edges of his mind, as a numbing sense of disbelief and something else he couldn't name spread throughout his body.

" _So go tell your village and your Hokage. Go tell them that Takigakure's raising up a weapon, in order to become one of the five great villages. Come and destroy it for us."_

Naruto had moved methodically to tighten the rope bindings around the two Takigakure genins, but his mind had already begun to race with the implications.

If Mushimi was telling the truth – and his body language and tone all supported that he was – then first of all, this meant that there was more than one tailed beast still roaming the world.

Naruto had tried once before to look up information about the Nine-tails in the Archive Library, as he was unable to dismiss the feeling of uneasiness he'd gotten during Mizuki-sensei's Memorial Day lecture. And he had managed to ascertain one thing before being chased out by the chūnin librarian: There was absolutely not even a single scroll on its origins, its known powers, or its fate. Granted, he didn't think that there could have been extensive research on such a colossal force of nature, but the fact that there was absolutely no information on it could mean only one thing – that it was classified, not to be disclosed even to the shinobi. It gave him a headache to think of it, and Naruto had decided that it must have been one of the village's top secrets, something to be handled only by the elite and the Hokage himself, and certainly not by lowly Academy students such as himself. And so, he had put his inquisitiveness aside.

But now, he found himself being forced back into a similar train of thoughts. And as fearful as the thought of tailed beasts in the plural was, the second implication in the genin's words was in Naruto's opinion, even worse – that these monsters of legend could actually be sealed away within people. He didn't know much about Fūinjutsu, except that it was a type of jutsu that sealed objects within other objects. He'd always assumed there was a limit to what could be sealed, and what could be done with what was sealed.

But if a tailed beast could be sealed within a person...and if that person could somehow harness the tailed beast's chakra, then such a person might very well be  _invincible._ And Mushimi had said that Takigakure was raising up such a person – a  _jinchūriki_ , he'd called it – in order to become one of the five great villages. Did this mean that all of the great villages had a jinchūriki of their own? A weapon, that by all intents of nature, shouldn't exist? If that was the case, then could the Nine-tails not in fact have been destroyed by the Fourth Hokage? Could he have sealed it away instead? Inside a person? Maybe even a baby?

Naruto suddenly recalled that the Fourth had been a sealing master. He had found this out when he'd been trying to figure out what the black seal on his abdomen was. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen his seal in a long time. But that was because it only appeared when he nudged his red chakra. But why was he thinking of his red chakra now? He hadn't touched, or thought of it in years.

" _Come and destroy it for us."_ Mushimi's hate-filled eyes flashed once more in his mind's memory. Naruto felt another headache coming. He knew those eyes very well. Where had he seen those kinds of eyes before? Hadn't they –

"Naruto!" He jerked in surprise, his hand automatically reaching for the tantō strapped across his back. Besides him, Rai blanched and took a step back; recognizing his teammate, Naruto immediately relaxed and let go of the blade's handle. Looking around, Naruto noted in surprise that the Takigakure genins were nowhere to be seen. In fact, they seemed to be walking somewhere.

For a split second, he couldn't remember where and why they were moving.

"What's up with you?" said Rai, eyeing him curiously.

Naruto hesitated.

"Nothing, I just spaced out," he finally said.

* * *

The rest of the second exam passed by quickly and easily, despite their increasing misgivings. Naruto's shadow clone found an Amegakure team with two plates that had let their guards down enough for them to be sneaked up on. Mayu's genjutsu incapacitated two of them with ease, and after Naruto took down the third with a simple chop across the back of his neck, they trussed up their second genin team to a boulder. With three plates now in their possession, they rested briefly before moving onwards, and after several more hours with no further confrontations, they finally reached the end of the maze.

They emerged out of the sloping dark tunnel to see that it was midday aboveground. They were somewhere in the desert away from the Suna village, and there was not a cloud in the sky. The strong sunlight seared their eyes after having spent days in almost constant darkness. Nevertheless, Rai flung himself on the hot sandy ground with a moan of bliss, soaking up the sunlight with his outstretched arms. Following him outside, a wide smile spread across Mayu's face even as her eyes squinted in pain.

Naruto on the other hand, remained tense, his eyes roving around as if looking for possible ambush spots.

Rai, seeing this, rolled his watering eyes. "Naruto, we're finally out of that hellhole. Lighten up."

Naruto ignored him, continuing his visual search. Rai sighed in long-suffering exasperation. But before he could say anything else, the sound of light footsteps alerted them to a Suna chūnin climbing up the hill towards them. His face was mostly covered with bandages and a face mask, and he wore the standard Suna flak jacket.

The man held his hand out. "Plates, please."

Immediately, Mayu began to reach inside the folds of her cloak – when Naruto flung out four shuriken from his holster. As the shuriken spiraled through the air towards the chūnin with a whistling sound, Rai let out a yelp of surprise – but instantly, the chūnin had his kunai out, and batted away the shuriken with ease. Mayu stared gapingly down at the shuriken embedded in the ground, and then back up at Naruto.

Slowly, the chūnin lowered his kunai, and leveled a sharp gaze at Naruto. "Attack an examiner again, and you'll be disqualified from the exam."

"What was that for?" Rai demanded.

Naruto didn't apologize. "For all we knew, you could have been another examinee trying to take our plates at the very last second."

It was difficult to tell the chūnin's facial expression from behind his mask, but Naruto could've sworn he saw something twitch. "My name is Tsubusa and I am one of the chūnin examiners for this year's Chūnin Selection Exam at Sunagakure. It has been exactly 29 hours and 44 minutes since the exam began. Congratulations on passing the second exam."

As Tsubusa led them back to the village, picking his way through a sandy path that only he seemed to be able to see, Naruto noticed several other entrances scattered around the ground. In the distance, he saw another worn out team emerging up to the ground as a Suna chūnin patiently waited for them.

"How do you guys know when to pick us up?" Rai piped up from behind him.

"Cameras," said Tsubusa. "Contrary to what some may have thought, the second exam was not meant to be an all-out battle royale, with the examiners being blind to its happenings."

"And you guys wanted to see what the future ninja of other villages have got up their sleeves, eh?"

"That too," Tsubusa admitted.

"So did you see that girl that attacked us?" Rai continued. "She creamed us." Naruto stopped short. At the same time, Rai let out a yelp of pain and stumbled forward; it appeared that Mayu had kicked him. "What was that f – oh..."

"We did not have a camera in every tunnel, so we may have missed that one," Tsubusa replied calmly.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. The pause before he'd spoken had been a millisecond too long; Naruto was certain that he was lying. And he would have bet his prized tantō that every single Suna examiner and official knew of Takigakure's jinchūriki. But for now, it seemed they would be feigning ignorance. The question was – had they found out from Mushimi's outburst, or had they known even before that? And if they had, why had they let her participate in their exam?

* * *

Naruto and his team were brought past the village gate and inside one of the circular clay buildings. Contrary to its heavy and dull appearance, it was cool and airy inside, and they gratefully removed their heavy cloaks. Mayu sniffed her sleeve and cringed, thrusting the cloak away from her.

To Rai's outrage, they were the second team once again to pass, this time having been beat out by Gai's team of rookies. The three rookies looked battered, but thrilled about their success; when Neji saw them enter, he gave them a cool smirk.

With three days left as the second exam continued, they were guided to separate quarters where they could clean up, eat, and rest. After taking a long refreshing bath, and saying good night to his teammates (Rai looked disappointed; he had been excited about going out to explore the village, but had been told by Tsubusa that they were not allowed to leave the building until the exam was over in order to prevent sabotage), Naruto turned in early and tossed and turned in his bed all night.

The next day, he rose early and was surprised to see that breakfast had been laid just outside his door. It was a tray of Suna cuisine, and nothing that he was used to: The meat was chewy and dry, and his soup, filled with something that looked like seaweed but tasted sweet. Nevertheless, as Naruto ate, he felt a touch of nostalgia, remembering back to the caretaker who had once prepared all of his meals.

Strangely enough, he had never seen her again after she left him, and for the first time in years, he wondered where she was. Naruto couldn't even remember her face; all he could remember was that she had been stern, and quick with her hand. He suddenly wondered why he'd been left with a caretaker, and not in the orphanage like every other child in Konoha who'd lost their parents in the war. He'd never thought too deeply of it before, but now, he wondered how he could never have questioned it before. And yet, each question raised even further questions.

After breakfast as planned, Naruto and his teammates assembled in the corridor that connected their rooms. Because their own clothes were dirty and being washed, they all wore the dark long tunics that was Suna's traditional clothing. While the clothes were surprisingly lightweight and cool, Naruto privately thought it made them all look lumpy and shapeless.

He hadn't noticed the night before because it had been too dark, but now that sunlight had crept into the hallway, Naruto saw that there was a small window that looked outside. Stepping forward and peering out, he realized that it overlooked the center of the village market. The sun was still rising, and hung low in the sky, but he could see the market was already beginning to bustle with activity.

"I wonder how many teams passed the second exam," said Rai, with a great yawn. "Since we ended with three plates instead of two, that means we took out two teams, right? What do you think the third exam will be?"

"Some kind of sparring match, probably," said Mayu, leaning against the wall. "My brother told me that's what most villages do for the third exam when they host the Chūnin exams." From what Naruto had been able to gather, Mayu's older brother was a chūnin who manned Konoha's village gates.

"Sparring, huh?" said Rai, scratching his nose. "I hope I'm paired with someone easy then. Someone like Tenten or one of those other rookies. And not...hm, let's see. Oh, I know. I really wouldn't like to go up against that – what'd they call her? That  _jinchūriki_  then. If she beat  _Naruto_  that easily, the rest of us wouldn't stand a chance." Glancing around the corridor to make sure it was empty, his voice nevertheless dropped an octave. "Is it even fair though, having her in the exam? We're just genins – even Naruto here wouldn't stand a chance against a tailed beast."

Mayu didn't respond.

"Assuming the third exam involves one-on-one sparring, it's not to say that you have to absolutely win your match to pass," said Naruto. "The first two exams were to weed out the weak; now that only the strong genins are left, they'll be wanting us to showcase our abilities. So even if you lose to your opponent, if you make a strong showing, you could still pass."

"That makes sense," said Rai seriously. And then, a sly smile spread itself across his face, his scar twisting as it did so. "Guess Tenten doesn't stand a chance then."

"Oh, this again. Just leave her alone! What do you have against her?" admonished Mayu.

"Everything," Rai shot back.

"Grow up!"

Tuning out the bickering voices of his teammates, Naruto continued looking out the window: This was the second village outside of his own that he'd ever seen in his life, and the similarities and differences he found were startling to him. The people of Konoha were more boisterous and familiar, greeting each other with wide grins and a slap on the back or a kiss to the cheek. The people of Suna on the other hand seemed much calmer and more reserved. As he watched, though people politely greeted each other good morning, there was always a certain distance between each other. Naruto wondered whether it was merely custom, or whether the extreme climates of the desert bred a certain kind of personality.

Yet at the same time, he thought, people here also woke up early to go to the market to buy food to put on the table for their families.

Suddenly, there was a loud banging noise just below his window. At the sound, Naruto reared back, his hand reaching for his tantō once more. There was a lull in the cacophony behind him, and striding over, Rai stuck his head out the window and glanced down.

"Someone just knocked something over, Naruto," he said, turning around. "What're you being so jittery for? You've been really weird lately."

"It's nothing," Naruto said. "I'm just tired."

Rai shook his head, but let it go. Stretching once more and saying something about looking for the kitchen to get more food, the genin shot off down the corridor. As soon as he disappeared around the corner, Mayu mumbled something about looking for something, and fled into her own room.

After a moment's hesitation, Naruto walked back to the window and looked down.

Pieces of a red clay pot were scattered on the ground. Though the contents seemed harmless, for some reason, everyone in the market was giving it a wide berth. Standing in the middle, paying no attention to the beans strewn around his feet, was a boy who looked Naruto's age, with spiky auburn hair. But that was where the physical similarities ended: He was much paler, and wore Suna genin attire. Naruto was fairly certain he hadn't seen him in the Chūnin exams; he knew he would've remembered someone like that in the exam. The boy was standing stiffly with his arms crossed, seemingly observing the flow of traffic that circled fearfully around him. Then without warning, the boy tilted his head back, and with wrathful black ringed eyes, glared hatefully back up at Naruto.

Naruto stepped back away from the window. Retreating to the opposite end of the corridor, where it was still dark, he leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground, massaging his temples. The blunt axe was back again, accompanied once more by that aching headache that prickled and lurked at the edges of his consciousness.

"I am..." he said quietly to the familiar darkness. "I am likely a jinchūriki."


	12. Stalemate

The faint moonlight made the water in the wash basin glow eerily. Looking down at his face reflected on the water's surface, Naruto grimaced as he recalled his recent revelations. He couldn't think of a word to describe how he felt. It was as though he had been blind, and his eyes had been newly opened to the real world. As though a bubble that had separated him from the truth had dissipated.

But unfortunately, this reality had never been something he wanted.

All of his musings from childhood seemed silly to him now. How could he have never connected the dots before? His entire life, the other villagers had isolated and despised him. Reasoning it out, he had concluded that their driving factor was hatred, and he now knew for sure that he hadn't been wrong there. But now he saw that there was an even bigger factor: Namely,  _fear_.

He had been orphaned the night that the Nine Tails attacked, but unlike the other orphans, he had been kept separate from them. And that was because the villagers, unlike him, had known that something colossal like the Nine-tails could not have been defeated, not even by the Fourth Hokage, but only sealed away.

To think that for ten years, they had had to live within the same walls as the monster that had killed their loved ones...

Naruto gazed down at the whisker-like marks on the face that stared back at him from the water's surface. After a moment, he broke the surface of the water with his hand, contorting his reflection.

Why had he never questioned the seal that appeared on his belly when he nudged the red chakra in his body? He had just dismissed it and never thought about it again after his initial curiosity. Naruto felt sick at the vague memory; how many other markers had he missed because of his lack of attention?

Suddenly, feeling an overwhelming urge to vomit, he covered his mouth. His headache had been growing increasingly worse all day, and now his head was throbbing again. Panting, Naruto leaned back against the sandy wall for support as his surroundings spun dizzily around him. As soon as the nausea had passed, he splashed some of the cold water on his hot face and then went to lie down on his bed.

His heart pounding, he dazedly wondered whether he had contracted some kind of strange desert bug, before his heavy eyes closed shut.

* * *

The day the second exam ended, everyone who had finished was taken out to the field of dunes where all the tunnels opened up to the surface. With the exception of the Konoha rookies, it was the first time since they had come into Suna that they had seen any of other genins. Taking a cursory look around during their short walk, Naruto noted that besides his and Neji's team, only Kabuto's team had made it from Konoha. However, none of the teams from the other villages seemed to have fared any better; overall, they looked rather more disheveled and worn down.

At the field, as expected, a large number of Suna shinobi officials were waiting. However, standing beside them were a number of foreign jōnin – including one very familiar face.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Mayu called out in surprise, coming to a stop.

The jōnin raised a hand in casual greeting as he strolled over. "So you guys are still in one piece, I see."

"Did you expect any less?" Rai snorted, folding his arms across his chest. Ever since he'd been kicked out of the Suna kitchen, he had been in an irritable mood.

"Are you  _supposed_  to be here?" Mayu asked skeptically.

"Hey, now. It's custom for the sensei to be present during the third exam," Kakashi explained. "In fact, there are usually a substantial number of spectators from every village during the third exam. After all, the Chūnin exam is what decides which ninja will be showing up on the battlefield."

Mayu's eyes widened. "But all the nations here are allied, aren't they?"

"Alliances can, and have, changed in a heartbeat," said Kakashi in a solemn voice. "The man – or woman – you shared a drink with over the campfire could be the one to stab you in the back when the fire dies." Suddenly, he clapped his hands together, startling them. "But enough of that business. You three should just concentrate on the upcoming exam."

As if taking that as a cue, the Suna chūnin who had picked them up, Tsubusa, raised a hand in signal. Kakashi, as well as the other foreign jōnin returned back to their formation. When the genin had all amassed into a single group, he spoke. "As of now, the second test of the Sunagakure Chūnin Exam is – " The rest of his sentence was cut off, as with a sudden flurry of sand, a red and white figure burst out of one of the tunnel holes in the ground.

"Whew. I almost overslept – that was  _way_  too close."

As one, all heads turned to stare at the genin who casually brushed the sand off her head.

"Isn't that – Fū?" Rai hissed unnecessarily into Naruto's ear. Hearing her name, the green-haired kunoichi looked their way with an unexpectedly hard expression on her face, and Rai involuntarily took a step back.

"Ahem," Tsubusa caught their attention with a cough. "As I was saying, as of now, the second test of the Sunagakure Chūnin Exam is now over. Taking into account the most recent...arrival, twenty-four individuals coming from a total of eleven teams have passed. Congratulations!" At this point, a particularly bedraggled looking Ame team was unable to contain their joy, triumphantly thrusting the tips of their umbrellas up into the air. "The Kazekage will now address you all." Tsubusa nodded towards the group of Suna shinobi, which parted in the middle to reveal a robed figure of middling size. Stern dark eyes bored into them from beneath the green pointed hat that denoted him as the strongest shinobi of Sunagakure.

"Congratulations on making it this far," said the Kazekage in a deep and raspy voice. "However...it is too early to celebrate." He pointedly looked towards the celebrating members of the Ame team, who shrunk under his gaze. "The Chūnin exam is a valuable tool for evaluating the performances of the future generations of shinobi. You can think of everything until now...as a preliminary test to weed out the worthless from those with potential. It is only from this point onwards that your mettle will truly be tested. The third exam, which will take place two weeks from now, will be a series of fights in which you must be the victor, in order to proceed to the next round." Rai nudged Mayu, who had paled. "I cannot stress enough the importance of your display during this third exam. You may be merely genin now, but you will, in the future, be the soldiers of your village. In a sense, you are showing the strength of your village to the other villages. A weak showing will reflect poorly on your village, and invite stronger villages to take advantage. In essence, from here on out, you are determining the futures of your villages." The Kazekage looked balefully around at them; it was completely quiet. "Now, according to your individual performances from the first and second exams, every person, with no regard for nation or team, has been divided into eight separate brackets. The victors of each bracket will face each other, until there is only one remaining, who will be guaranteed a pass in the exams."

Breaking the silence, the group of genins began to murmur amongst each other. The Kazekage raised a hand to quell them. "This does not mean however, that only one person will be passing. From this moment on, every single one of you is being considered for a promotion to the chūnin rank. So I expect you all, as representatives of your respective villages, to prove yourselves in these rounds." At these words, a tall and bald Suna jōnin stepped forward.

"Thank you Kazekage-sama. I will take it from here," said the jōnin, bowing deeply. He straightened up and turned to look at them. "My name is Satetsu, and I will be the head referee for the third exam. To start things off, due to the larger than expected number of remaining contenders, there will be a preliminary round. You will be divided into divisions where three, instead of two, genins will fight each other. There will be no rules besides that you must remain in this field. The fight will continue until two of you are dead, knocked out, or admit defeat. There may also be a situation in which the winner has been clearly decided; rather than unnecessarily adding blood to the field, I will step in and declare the victor." He cleared his throat. "Now then, you were each individually evaluated during the first and second exams, and using these results, the divisions have been drawn to be as fair as possible."

Several Suna chūnin rolled out a large white cloth with a tournament bracket chart etched on it in dull black ink.

Naruto found his name immediately. It was the first name written in the very first bracket. The two names next to his were 'Kabuto' and 'Karin.' Scanning the rest of the brackets, he saw that almost all the other Konoha genin had been split up into separate brackets. It seemed that by 'fair,' they had meant that they intended the strongest genins to face each other in the later rounds of the tournament rather than in the preliminary. Likely to provide the most entertainment for the various high-ranking country officials that would be coming to view the actual third exam.

His gaze lingered momentarily on Mayu's bracket, which was fourth. One of the names was unfamiliar to him, but the other name was 'Fū.' Either they had scribbled Fū's name into one of the brackets as soon as she emerged, or more likely, they had known she had passed, and had proactively written her in. Naruto glanced at Mayu, but for once, her face was unreadable.

"We will commence with the preliminary round of the third exam immediately! First up is bracket 1: Naruto Uzumaki from Konoha, Kabuto Yakushi from Konoha, and Karin of Kusagakure."

"They're sure not wasting any time," Rai grumbled, scratching his scar. "Good luck, Naruto. Not that you need it."

Mayu nodded. "Good...good luck Naruto!"

Wordlessly, Naruto stepped out onto the field. Kabuto walked past him, his sandaled feet crunching in the sand, and turned around to face him several meters away. A bespectacled girl with flaming bright red hair and eyes wearing a Kusagakure hitai-ate did the same, finishing the triangle. At the same time, several Suna jōnin stepped out, and with a jutsu, raised a circular sand barrier that separated the bystanders from the three genin, creating a makeshift arena.

"Are you ready?" said Satetsu.

"Yes," said Naruto and Karin simultaneously. Kabuto silently adjusted his glasses.

"Then – begin!"

The girl seemed to have judged Kabuto as the easier of the two; she immediately flung several kunai in his direction. Barely dodging them, Kabuto tripped over his own feet, and fell on the ground. Karin began running towards him, but skidded to a stop when he raised his hand.

There was a momentary silence, before Satetsu cleared his throat. "Uh, yes?"

"I forfeit," Kabuto said, looking embarrassed. He stood up, dusting the sand off his pants, and began to limp back to the wall of the barrier. "My foot's been bothering me since the second exam, and I doubt I can carry on much longer."

Personally, Naruto thought that the limp looked fake; it was much more likely that Kabuto had ascertained that he had no chance against the competition of that year, and had just chickened out.

"That was so not cool man!" said Rai, shaking his head. Hearing him, Kabuto gave a sheepish smile before going to the back to sit beside his teammates.

"Okay then...Kabuto Yakushi from Konoha has been eliminated from bracket 1," Satetsu rolled his eyes. He raised his hand once more. "Continue!"

Naruto hadn't moved since stepping out onto the field. This seemed to unsettle the Kusa genin; hesitating for a second, she flung another pair of kunai at Naruto. Deflecting the kunai with his own, Naruto stayed otherwise still. Running around him in circular motions, Karin continued to throw kunai at him, all of which he blocked. Finally, apparently having run out of artillery, she launched herself at him with surprising speed, leaving a small cloud of sand in her wake.

Feinting to the right, she ducked and swiped at his feet to try and knock him off balance. Naruto twisted, and kicked at her open back. She grunted at the direct hit, but to his surprise, reached behind her to wrap her arms around his leg. Again, with a surprising amount of strength, Karin pushed up, propelling him into the air. Jumping up, she punched at him. However, Naruto ducked, and quicker than she could react, he grabbed a hold of her collar. Her eyes widened just as he slammed her down to the ground.

Her body hit the ground with enough impact to cause deep cracks to appear in the ground around her. A cloud of dust and sand erupted around Karin's groaning figure; Naruto nimbly landed several meters away. When the dust had cleared however, he noted with some surprise that Karin had already gotten up. Furthermore, aside from a slightly dazed expression, she seemed unhurt.

An impressed murmur spread throughout the watching crowd. Naruto gazed impassively at her figure. Contrary to her rather flimsy appearance, she was quite sturdy. If he continued to fight her the way he had planned to, it would likely only drag out for a long time as he slowly whittled away at her defenses.

Making up his mind, he brought his hands together. "Fūton: Kyōfu ( _Wind Release: Gale_ )!" A gust of wind spiraled into existence, picking up sand and forming a large dust cloud that engulfed the entire arena. There were yelps of indignant pain from the group of genins, as some of the sand blew into their eyes. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu ( _Shadow clone technique_ )!" Under the cloud of the dust, Naruto created four shadow clones.

Karin meanwhile had stood rooted in her position, bracing herself; she seemed fairly intelligent, and had likely predicted Naruto's intentions under the cover of dust. However, there was little she could do against five assailants; as his clones distracted her, Naruto crept in from her blind spot. Raising his kunai, he aimed at the back of her neck, prepared to deal the finishing blow – when suddenly, as if she had known he'd been the real one the whole time, Karin twisted her head to look directly at him. With flashing red eyes, she flung a kunai at him, and for the first time, he was forced to jump back in retreat.

Appraising the redheaded genin from afar, Naruto cocked his head in bemusement. Interesting...either it had been a lucky guess – which he doubted – or she had some sort of sensory ability that allowed her to differentiate between clones. If that was the case, his current plan wouldn't work either – and the ball was back in Karin's court. She seemed to have reached the same conclusion; apparently not having yet exhausted her supply of kunai, she resumed throwing them at him, warily maintaining her distance. Just the same as before, Naruto continued blocking them, creating a momentary standstill. For several moments, it was silent except for the sound of metal clashing on metal as the two stared at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.

Finally, Karin seemed to have grown impatient. Her final pair missed him entirely, flying over his head. At the same time, she propelled herself headfirst in his direction once more.

Prepared, Naruto reached behind him for his tantō. Just before Karin reached him, he took a small leap backwards, focusing his wind chakra along the blade of his tantō. He pulled out the tantō in a single, fluid motion. Upon seeing the blade, Karin immediately stopped and began to reverse direction – out of fear, he thought for a split moment, when he suddenly heard something hissing behind him.

Still looking directly at Karin, Naruto saw the tips of her lips curl up into a small smile, and in the same split second, saw belatedly that her hands were in the 'Snake' hand seal. Then, before he even had enough time to widen his eyes, there was a loud explosion as the exploding tags behind him detonated.

* * *

A collective gasp swept through the crowd as a large violent ball of fire engulfed Naruto's figure. The billowing smoke rapidly filled the entire arena.

"Naruto!" Mayu choked out in a shocked voice. She moved forward as if to run in, but was stopped by a raised hand from Kakashi, who had suddenly appeared beside them during the ruckus. Kakashi silently shook his head at her. Meanwhile, leaping over the barrier, the referee ninja had disappeared into the thick smoke.

"W...what happened?" Rai gasped, wide-eyed.

"It seems that your genius was outsmarted," said Neji, folding his arms across his chest. Fū let out an admiring whistle.

"Naruto – outsmarted?" Rai repeated dumbly. "Kakashi-sensei, what...?" The jōnin didn't respond.

"You better start getting ready for your match, Tenten," said Neji, turning to his teammate.

Looking dazed, she seemed startled at his suggestion. "Uh...right," she said weakly.

"The winner of preliminary round 1..." Satetsu's bodiless voice emerged from the smoke, recapturing their attention. Neji closed his eyes, nodding his head in affirmation. "...is Naruto Uzumaki!" Neji's eyes snapped open in shock.

There was a momentary pause of collective confusion.

"What?" called out a genin. "You sure you haven't gotten the names wrong?"

"Yeah! We saw Karin win!" said the girl next to him.

"I can't see anything," another genin complained.

In response, one of the jōnin raised a large metal fan and waved it once towards the arena. Immediately, a strong wind swept through once more, this time taking away the smoke – to reveal a completely different scene from the one they had been left with.

Karin was sitting motionlessly on her knees, with a look of fear frozen on her face. Naruto stood just as still behind her, one hand gripping the top of her red hair while the other held the blade of his tantō to the front of her neck.

* * *

"As mentioned earlier, I can decide during a match if a victor is made clear," growled Satetsu. "Now, lower your tantō."

For a tangibly tense second, Naruto didn't move, looking down at the girl with a blank expression on his face. A thin trickle of bright blood slid down his blade and dripped down onto the sand.

He'd been in this position before, and seen this scene before, he thought distantly.

Karin let out a pained whimper.

Upon hearing her, as though breaking out of a reverie, Naruto released his grip on her head and slid the tantō back into its strap on his back. Karin slumped onto the ground; several medic nin hurried over to the genin's prone figure. Ignoring the murmuring and questioning gazes of the crowd, Naruto jumped over the barrier and walked over to Kakashi's side.

"What happened?" Rai said eagerly in a tone of great relief that indicated that the world was as it should be once more. "I thought that even you wouldn't have enough time to dodge that!"

"I did," said Naruto shortly.

"Good ol' Naruto," said Rai, slinging his arm around his head. "You scared me there for a sec. Mayu too, right?" He nudged the pale-faced girl besides him, who nodded mutely. "I thought that maybe that flu you caught had made you slower or something."

"The flu?" Kakashi questioned, reaching out with a hand to Naruto. "Naruto, were you sick?"

Taken aback, Naruto shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

"Of course you are," Rai beamed. He turned to Mayu. "I'm more worried about you. My fight's gonna be a piece of cake but...you're up against that jinchūriki girl."

In an unusual slip of his composure, Kakashi's hand jerked. At that, Naruto turned to regard his teammate in bewilderment. What was Rai talking about?

"Jinchūriki...?" he repeated slowly. He couldn't recall ever having heard that word before.

And yet for some reason, the word did not feel unfamiliar on his tongue... Something throbbed in his head, and Naruto winced.

"Yeah," said Rai obliviously, waving his hand. "You know. That girl Fū."

But before he could ask him what a jinchūriki was, the second round of the preliminaries began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know that Naruto realized he's a jinchūriki in the last chapter. I don't have short-term memory loss.


	13. Goodbye Memory

The next few rounds of the preliminary went by fairly quickly.

In the second round, Tenten and the other Suna genin were overwhelmed by a Suna genin named Temari, who'd simply blown away all the artillery with a giant metal fan. In the next bracket, Rai lucked out; it turned out that the two other genin, a Suna and an Ame genin, hated each other's guts and spent all of their energy trying to beat the other.

When the Ame genin narrowly emerged victorious, Rai pounced, and made short work of him.

"Nice work," Kakashi praised Rai, who clambered over the sandy barrier with a triumphant grin.

"Good job," said Kabuto, pushing up his glasses.

Tenten, who was standing nearby, regarded Rai with a sour look.

"Did you see that move I made at the end there?" said Rai, swiping the air with his kunai. "It was like – "

"Oh please," Tenten cut in with a snort, folding her arms across her chest. "All you did was stand around and try to look invisible for most of that round." Though she'd been promptly restored to working condition by the medic nin, it seemed her pride had not yet made a full recovery.

Rai turned to her with a irritated look on his face. "Don't you have somewhere else to be? Like the stands."

Tenten scowled. "You wouldn't have done any better than me if you were up against an actual opponent!"

"Oh yeah?" Rai growled. "I guess we'll see in the third exam about that, then. The third exam  _you won't be participating in_."

Tenten reddened, and for a second, Naruto thought she would hit him. But then, without another word, she turned on her heel and stiffly walked away. As Rai fumed, from the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Mayu biting her lip, as though debating within herself whether or not to talk.

"Your abilities and fighting style are fairly similar to Tenten's," Naruto remarked. "You might not have won against that Suna genin either."

Rai's jaw dropped. "What?"

"She was just upset she lost," Mayu piped in, looking upset. "You shouldn't have taunted her like that."

Rai slowly looked back and forth between them, before shaking his head.

"You two are never on my side," he groaned.

"I'm just stating facts," said Naruto matter-of-factly.

Rai turned towards his last hope with a pleading look. "Kabuto...?"

"Sorry Rai, but I'll have to agree with the rest on this one," Kabuto said with an apologetic smile.

Rai let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Fine," he said, throwing his hands up. "Fine! I'll go apologize." Hunched over, he slunk into the throng of genin.

Kakashi, who had been wordlessly watching the situation unfold, finally let out a chuckle. "You all rather remind me of my own team back in the day."

Feeling a lick of curiosity welling up, Naruto turned toward the jōnin. "What was your team like, sensei?"

"We were always fighting," was all Kakashi said, before turning to look back at the arena.

Naruto's gaze lingered on his sensei; he seemed distracted. Ever since his own match had ended, Kakashi had been sneaking discreet glances at him every now and then, before shaking his head and looking away. Was it because of that thing Rai had said? ' _Jinchūriki_?' He'd been meaning to ask Rai about it, but with Rai's battle being so soon after his, he hadn't gotten a chance to. And now, he was off doing who knew what. But what could Rai have been talking about? 'Jinchūriki'... was it a codename for something else?

Shaking his head to clear it, Naruto turned to look back at the arena as well. The second half of the preliminaries was starting now, and the first ones up were...

"Well that's rotten luck," said Kabuto. "They're both on the same team, aren't they? Neji Hyūga and Rock Lee."

"I wonder if that's why Tenten was so upset," said Mayu slowly. "Since she lost, and Neji and Lee are in the same bracket, only one member on their team gets to pass to the third exam."

Naruto silently observed the three figures who stood in the center of the arena. Neji, with his arms crossed, was an emotionless wall. Rock Lee on the other hand, had an interesting mix of determination and anxiety etched across his face. Looking over the third genin – a jittery looking Suna – with a practiced eye, Naruto mentally dismissed him from the battle. This would come down to be a fight between the two male Konoha rookies.

"Begin!" said Satetsu, who leaped out of the arena. The Suna genin immediately jumped away from the Konoha nin, pulling the bandaged humanoid puppet off his back.

"Lee," said Neji, ignoring the Suna genin completely. He stood stock still. "Forfeit now. You've never beaten me, and you never will."

Rock Lee lowered himself into a taijutsu stance. "Neji...I respect you as a genius. But as I am sure you know by now, I never give up!"

Neji shook his head, and lowering himself into a stance, the veins around his eyes bulged outwards as the boy activated his infamous heritage.

The fight was over in less than five minutes. At first, Lee seemed to be moving too quickly for Neji to follow, making sure to stay out of his reach. When the Suna genin distracted Neji with his puppet, Lee finally jumped in for his attack – but unfortunately for him, nothing got past the Byakugan's all-seeing power. As soon as Lee was in Neji's reach, it was all over him. With what seemed like a series of gentle jabs to Lee's torso and legs, the boy crumpled to the ground. The Suna genin soon followed after, being easily incapacitated with a few jabs to the hands controlling the puppet.

"The winner of preliminary round 4 is Neji Hyūga!"

Without a look back at his teammate who still lay on the ground, Neji left the arena.

"It's unfortunate, but Rock Lee wouldn't have stood a chance against any competent ninja, let alone a genius like Hyūga," said Kabuto, adjusting his glasses.

"What do you mean?" asked Mayu curiously.

"He can't use any ninjutsu or genjutsu. It's amazing that he's come this far with just taijutsu, but...this is where the road ends for him," came the answer.

They fell silent, and soon after, Kabuto excused himself, returning to his teammates.

It took a second for Naruto to realize that Mayu had also wordlessly begun walking towards the arena. Naruto's gaze lowered to her trembling hands, and he let out an internal sigh. With that kind of mentality going in, he doubted she'd come out victorious. He looked towards her opponents: Fū and another Ame genin were already waiting inside the arena. As his gaze fell on the Taki genin, the girl seemed to notice; turning around, she locked gazes with him for a second. Then, baring her teeth at him, Fū gave him a sarcastic little wave before returning her attention to the others in the arena.

Bemused, Naruto cocked his head, his thoughts returning once more to Rai's words and Kakashi's strange reaction towards them. "Fū..." he said her name out loud quietly.

Rai had called her a 'jinchūriki,' but what did that even mean? Maybe Rai had been messing around like usual, and it hadn't meant anything. But Kakashi's reaction had been strange, so perhaps there was something else to it that he was missing? Naruto's forehead furrowed, and he reached up to massage his temple with his hand. His head was starting to throb again.

Wincing, Naruto glanced sideways at Kakashi. He opened his mouth – and then hesitated.  _Should_  he ask the jōnin? Normally, he wouldn't have hesitated – if there was anyone he trusted, it was his sensei. But Kakashi's previously bizarre reaction gave him pause.

He squeezed his temples; it was getting harder to think straight with his head aching like this. Was this another relapse of that weird desert sickness? How come he was sick, anyways, while no one else was?

"Naruto, are you alright?"

Naruto almost jumped in surprise, before returning to his senses. How odd – he'd nearly forgotten that the jōnin was there. With a mental shrug, he decided that it couldn't hurt to ask...what had he been going to ask again?

In some distant part of his mind, alarm bells were ringing, but for some reason, Naruto was finding it hard to focus on them. Dazedly, he looked back at the arena. The round had started; Mayu was racing away, while the genin from Takigakure was spewing a shiny powder that hurt his eyes. What had been the girl's name again?

"Naruto?"

His eyes widened as he actually jumped this time. He'd forgotten Kakashi-sensei was there again! What was going on? What was wrong with his mind? He felt like he was drowning in a increasingly thicker fog.

 _Focus, Naruto_ , he told himself, massaging his temples. Closing his eyes, he mentally retreated to his sanctuary. Here, he had studied all of his difficult taijutsu stances and committed his jutsu to memory. But to his immense shock, whereas he had previously imagined it as a great expanse of nothing, there was something else there now – a giant, bulky gelatin-like block that was rapidly expanding in all directions even now. But – there! It hadn't taken over completely just yet. Naruto dove to grasp the fleeting thought before it was crushed for good under the block.

"Sensei, do you know...what Rai meant by...a jinchūriki?" he managed to choke out.

"What?" Kakashi sounded taken aback. "So...you don't know what he meant?"

"No...but – " Naruto stopped with a hiss as he was forcibly ejected from his own sanctuary. He let out a groan, as the wave of pain collapsed over him. Everything around him was beginning to spin dizzily, just like it had several days ago.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi's voice was muted and distant, as if he were talking to him through a thick wall. Naruto staggered, his hands falling limply to his sides. The air was thick and hazy, and his mouth felt like a leaden lump of clay. He mumbled something through a thick tongue, before everything turned black.

* * *

As she slowly walked into the arena, there were so many thoughts and voices in her head that Mayu was starting to feel rather sick. It was a tumultuous cacophony, a restless tornado that raged through her mind. There was no time to breathe or think. Only react.

" _I thought we had agreed that you were going to keep your distance from it."_

" _She skipped the Academy today again!"_

" _You don't mean you're making a cake for that thing, are you?"_

" _Get away from him! He'll kill you!"_

" _He's a monster!"_

"Where are you going?"

Mayu flinched in surprise, and then stumbled. Regaining her bearings, she looked around in a daze; her surroundings had suddenly changed. She was already at the center of the sandy arena, where an Ame genin and Fū waited for her. Mayu blinked. Fū had been the one to call out to her.

"Are you ready?" the Suna jōnin growled, glaring around at them. Mayu's eyes darted away, not wanting to meet his eyes. "Then – begin!"

The Ame genin immediately jumped into the air, lifting his umbrella and spinning it to release a torrent of deadly poison-tipped needles. Fū hopped away, while Mayu – almost tripping again – just barely managed to get out of range.

"Hiden: Rinpungakure no Jutsu ( _Secret: Hiding in Scale Powder Technique_ )!" Fū used the same jutsu she had used on them earlier in the tunnels, exhaling a blindingly bright powder from her mouth.

Reacting instinctively, Mayu screwed her eyes shut, running as fast as she could. Judging by the outraged howl of surprise from the Ame genin, he hadn't fared as well. When Mayu felt it safe enough to open her eyes again a few seconds later, sure enough, he was already slumped on the ground. She watched as Fū straightened over his body. Casually, the green-haired girl stretched her arms back behind her body, reminding her for some odd reason of an insect extending its scaly wings.

Then, just as casually, Fū looked directly over at where Mayu stood.

"Here I come!" she said brightly, pointing her finger in her direction.

Mayu froze, her eyes widening. Unable to move, she watched as Fū took a deliberate slow step towards her.

_It was just her and the monster again._

The monster took another step towards her. And then another. And another.

Mayu couldn't move. All she could do was stand there, watching the sand below the monster's sandals billow in all directions with every step closer to her.

Another step. The pause between each step was growing shorter. Step. Step. The monster would be here soon.

 _Move!, s_ he tried to scream at herself.  _Move, or you'll die!_

Mayu whimpered, but she couldn't move. There was a glass tunnel, long and narrow, that was trapping her there in with the monster. She couldn't move nor breathe; the only way to move was forward, where the monster was waiting. The monster was close now. The monster was raising her hands; the corners of her mouth were turning upwards, and she could see a glimpse of sharp, glinting teeth.

_I'm scared._

Mayu's lips cracked open. She wanted to cry out for help – where were her teammates? Her gaze searchingly flicked sideways to the jeering audience. But she couldn't see anyone she recognized. It was a sea of blank faces.

_I'm so scared._

The monster had taken out a kunai now. But she still couldn't move. All she could do was watch the kunai, so reminiscent of a fang, make its way towards her in a slow, downward arc.

_I'm scared._

" _ **Mayu!**_ " a voice bellowed, cutting through the haze.

As though she'd been splashed in ice cold water, Mayu jerked in surprise, and finding she could move again, just barely managed to throw herself out of the way. As soon as she hit the ground, Mayu somersaulted back onto her feet, pulling a kunai out of her pouch and holding it above her with a shaking hand. Fū looked at her with a bemused expression and in the moment of stillness, Mayu glanced back at the spectators again. She found Rai immediately; his face was stark white as he stared back at her, the thick scar on his cheek standing out prominently. Naruto and Kakashi-sensei were gone, and somehow, she knew that Naruto must have collapsed again; the memory of finding him unconscious in his room several days ago suddenly flashed through her mind.

She had been scared then, too.

"Are you always this scared when your teammates aren't around?" the girl asked, casually tossing the kunai around in her hands. Her orange eyes flashed dangerously, and her smile grew a little more strained. "Or do you know what I am?"

To her surprise, Mayu found herself opening her mouth to speak. "I'm always scared," she replied in an unexpectedly calm voice. "I've been scared of everything for years..."

Fū cocked her head. "What kind of way to live is that?"

Mayu's grip on her kunai tightened painfully. "It's no way to live," she said, and threw the kunai. Fū jerked back, but the kunai never even went near her. Instead, it pierced through the air with a shattering sound before landing harmlessly on the ground at the other side of the arena. "I'm scared but...I'm tired of being scared."

* * *

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Kakashi asked, watching in alarm as the genin's face turned an ashen gray. Naruto stumbled. Reacting instinctively, Kakashi caught him before he fell.

"Sensei, my head..." Naruto's eyes rolled back, and his body went limp in Kakashi's arms. His free eye widened in shock.

" _ **Naruto!**_ " Rai was finally back. Looking worried, he raced forward to help, but stopped in his tracks at Kakashi's expression.

"No...it couldn't be..." Kakashi murmured to himself, shaking his head. He anxiously stared down at Naruto's slack face. Over the years, as he watched the boy grow up from afar, he'd sometimes had his doubts and wondered about its possibility before. Even just today, he had felt uneasy when he heard about Naruto's recent sudden illness. After some contemplation however, he'd dismissed it all as simple paranoia. But just now, the boy had fainted as soon as he broached the subject. This wasn't some psychological issue – it went far beyond that. This was an external cause.

And it sounded very similar to the effects of something he'd once been very familiar with during the war.

"It couldn't be..." he repeated miserably. "That couldn't be what he meant."

"What're you talking about, sensei?" Rai said, sounding upset. "What's wrong with Naruto? Is he sick again?"

Kakashi straightened up, lifting up Naruto in his arms.

"I'm going to take Naruto to a medic, Rai. I want you to stay here to cheer Mayu on," he said quietly. "But when I come back, I want you to tell me everything you know about jinchūriki."

* * *

Many miles away in the Fire country, the venerable Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi looked outside at the setting sun from his office, his trusty pipe smoking in his hand. He hummed, watching the last rays strike the familiar busts of the past Hokage. The days were growing longer as spring approached, and he was glad. The past winter had been a long and severe one.

His thoughts turned toward the Chūnin exams that were currently taking place in Sunagakure. Several of Konoha's promising genins were participating this year, including Gai's rookies. Hiruzen was quite looking forward to seeing how they would be performing, particularly the Hyūga genius. There hadn't been a user of the Byakugan with as much promise in so many years. It was just a pity that he was from the branch house...unless the main house changed their ways, then the boy's talents would never be used to their full extent.

Knowing Gai's way of instructing his students with the greatest care however, Hiruzen hadn't expected them to participate this year. He smiled, his temples wrinkling. It was probably because Kakashi, Gai's greatest rival, had entered his team in the exams this year. And on Kakashi's team was...

Hiruzen stilled. The smile faded, and he turned away from the window. He couldn't bear to look out and see Minato's face staring accusingly back at him. Sitting down at his desk, Hiruzen steepled his hands together.

Every day, he wondered if he had made the right choice. Granted, it had been the only choice at the time. Such was the way of fate. And yet, he wondered, was fate really such an unmovable force?

Eleven years ago – and then five years ago – ...

" _Hokage-sama!" A silver-haired ANBU stumbled into the Hokage's office. There were several chūnin standing in front of the Hokage, but ignoring protocol, he ripped off his animal mask to reveal his face._

" _ **Dog!**_ _" Hiruzen admonished. The chūnin beside him immediately averted their eyes. Hiruzen signaled for the chūnin to leave before turning to face the upset young ninja standing before him. "What is the matter?"_

" _Is it true?" Kakashi demanded, once all of the chūnin had filed out of the room. "That the Nine-tails attacked? And that there were casualties?!"_

" _Yes," said the elder shinobi heavily._

" _But – how – "_

_Hiruzen raised his hand. "Now is not the time. It will all be explained soon. For now, know that it has been subjugated and resealed back in its host."_

_Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "And what have you done with him...?"_

" _The boy was understandably distraught when he reached consciousness. For now he's been put to sleep, while the councilors and I discuss what to do with him."_

" _It's true then?" said Kakashi quietly. "That the council wants him dead?"_

" _There have been some...suggestions concerning different ways of quelling the host."_

 _Kakashi slammed the wall with his fist._  " _Naruto's still just a child! You can't blame him for something like this!"_

" _And I don't," said Hiruzen gently. "You need not worry for him; he has been put under high-security guard to prevent anything from happening to him."_

" _More like you're putting him under guard so to make people feel more at ease..." Kakashi muttered._

" _Even though the Nine-tails has been resealed, he is still a danger, Kakashi," Hiruzen shook his head wearily. "Especially with the state his mind is currently in...most likely, he and the other witnesses will have to have their minds wiped of the memory."_

" _And then...?"_

" _The boy turns six tomorrow, yes?" said Hiruzen, clasping his hands behind his back. He turned to Kakashi. "I think it is about time he has begun to be trained. He will be placed back in his apartment by tomorrow morning, with no memory of today's events. Could you bring him to my office then?"_

_Kakashi numbly nodded. He didn't seem altogether pleased, but he seemed reassured that the Hokage had not given into village pressure and dealt with his teacher's son much more harshly. Turning around, the ANBU left without another word._

_Hiruzen sighed as the door slammed shut. As upset as Kakashi already was, he hadn't thought it prudent to fully clue him in on everything that was to be done regarding the boy. He himself would have preferred any other possible alternate method. But it had been the only way to pacify the councilors while giving him as normal a childhood as possible._

" _Such a potent seal," he murmured to himself. "Minato would be furious to know his own creation would be used on his son..." He looked down at his lined hands silently – he would do the deed himself. All the blame would be his._


	14. Lightning Speed

Much like the other buildings in Sunagakure, the infirmary was a hive of dimly lit rooms and connecting hallways, and as such, it was only by chance that Kakashi noticed Mayu being carried past on a stretcher. Once he'd affirmed that Naruto's condition had stabilized, he had worried over her battle against Fū – and as soon as he saw the blue hair clips attached to a mop of sandy hair, Kakashi jumped to his feet and stopped the medic nin in order to check on her.

But even without the medic assuring him that she would be alright, with just a cursory look over, he could tell that his fears had been groundless. Mayu was bleeding from what looked like multiple tiny perforations on her arms, but that appeared to be the extent of her injuries. She was breathing steadily, with no irregularities in her pulse; it appeared she was merely unconscious.

Relaxing, Kakashi nodded and stepped back, allowing the medic to direct her stretcher to another room.

Just as he'd walked back through the doorway, he saw Naruto's eyes snap open. Leaving the stunned boy to stare up at the clay ceiling from his prone position in bed, Kakashi locked the door behind him and checked the room once more. They were the only occupants in the room, and the medic who had been attending to Naruto had long since left.

But of course, that didn't mean anything in a hidden village like Sunagakure. He would have preferred to take Naruto to a more secure location, but to do so now would attract unwanted attention. Passing his hand over his face, Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate to reveal his sharingan. Glancing around, he was rewarded with a small chakra presence perched on top of the rim of the nearest window.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked in a taut voice. "What happened? ...I passed out again, didn't I?"

Without responding, Kakashi leisurely ambled over to the window. Pretending to look outside at the view of the drab, open field of sand in deep contemplation, he saw that the source of the chakra was a harmless beetle on the outside. The inside on the other hand was a whole different story. From what he could tell by its thin string of light chakra that jutted out from its posterior and led out of the room, it was a modified puppet, possibly with the added capability of recording conversations. Ingenious, what some of their jutsu could accomplish.  _However_...

With an idle flick of his fingers, Kakashi squashed the insect against the wall, before turning back to face the genin. As soon as he met the boy's blue eyes, he internally winced; the pressure of the daunting task that loomed before him weighed down on him all at once like a massive boulder. Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, gathering his thoughts together.  _Nevertheless, it has to be done..._  – and with that thought in mind, he let out another exhale.

"Naruto," he began at last, "before anything, I would like to apologize."

The genin looked taken aback. "Apologize? What for, sensei?"

"In my defense..." Kakashi paused. "No, I have no defense. The truth of the matter is that everyone, including me, has been lying to you for your entire life. I could have done something about it, but I never did. I'm sorry."

"...I see." To Kakashi's surprise, Naruto's gaze sharpened. "And I suppose these lies have something to do with why I am passing out. Are you going to tell me what these lies are?"

"Yes," he replied, and was gratified to see a look of surprise flash across the genin's face. "I'm going to tell you everything that I know, consequences be damned. While it isn't much, it's the very least you deserve..." Kakashi trailed off, as a sudden thought struck him. "I'm assuming that you want to hear the truth?"

"Yes, sensei," said Naruto immediately. "Right now, please."

Kakashi nodded. "Very well. But there's one thing I'm going to ask of you. And that's to hear me out in its entirety. Some news might –  _will –_ be shocking to you, but I want you to stay here on your bed. In return, I promise you that I will tell you the entire truth as I know it."

"Yes, sensei," Naruto said, his tone now touched by a slight flavor of impatience.

"Alright then." Kakashi took a deep breath.  _Might as well get it over with from the get-go._  "You are a jinchūriki." At these words, he noted that Naruto's face remained unchanged, but could sense his body tensing up. "That means that you are the host of a tailed-beast. In your case, during its invasion of Konoha, the Nine-tails – Kyūbi – was sealed within you when you were a newborn baby."

"The Kyūbi wasn't destroyed?" Naruto asked, raising a fist to clear his throat. His face was otherwise, curiously devoid of emotion. "I thought the Fourth Hokage defeated it."

"Tailed-beasts aren't so simply defeated, Naruto," said Kakashi. "They're mammoth living forms of chakra – the best we can do is seal them away. And most villages take advantage of this by sealing them inside another living vessel – a human."

"Was it a complete seal – is that even possible? How come it's never gotten out?" Naruto frowned. "It has, hasn't it?"

Kakashi nodded. "Correct. However, from what I know, there has been only one incident so far in which the Kyūbi managed to temporarily escape its seal. It happened when you were six – or actually, the day before your sixth birthday. Some foreign ninja somehow managed to get intel on you and infiltrated Konoha. In the incident, you lost control and managed to kill them all."

"But I don't remember – "

"There are gaps in your memory, Naruto. Ever since that day, for five years now, there has been a seal on some of your memories." It was curious and yet disheartening to observe the careful look of calm beginning to fall apart on the genin's face, like cracks in a sheet of ice that had frozen over a raging river. Before he could be swept away in its current, Kakashi hurriedly pressed on. "It is a type of forbidden fūinjutsu called the Genkōkin Fūin ( _Taboo Seal)_. It was invented by the Fourth Hokage, and was popularly used during the Third Shinobi World War – it works by making a word or idea 'taboo' in someone's mind. Any time they begin thinking about it, the seal immediately sucks the memory away. People whose mental resilience is strong enough tend to unconsciously fight this, and suffer tremendous headaches as a result. That's the reason why you've been falling unconscious. Your mind has been fighting with the seal, trying to hold on to your memories. As a temporary measure, I've put a block on the seal for now, which is why, as I tell you this, you aren't falling unconscious."

Naruto's hands fell by his side. A long, terse silence entangled itself around them. Looking at the mixture of feelings playing out across his student's normally stoic face, Kakashi had to hold himself back from sighing. Ninja lived harsh, often unjust lives, and it was something that he had come to accept a long time ago as a child himself. But something about the way Naruto's face looked like just now brought back memories of those grey, rain-drenched days he'd spent in the reflection of the cold memorial stone.

"Why me?" Naruto finally let out.

"The Fourth Hokage chose you," Kakashi replied.

"Why?" Naruto repeated, shaking his head. Kakashi hesitated. "Please, sensei."

"Because you were his son," he said quietly.

"What?" Naruto blurted out, looking at Kakashi in naked disbelief. "But that's..."

"Your father was Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage," Kakashi pressed on. "He was my teacher, and a legendary shinobi renowned as Konoha's Yellow Flash. He died a hero, saving the village by sealing the Kyūbi inside his own child – you."

Naruto didn't respond, and as Kakashi watched the genin's eyes slowly turn dull, the weight on his back seemed to grow heavier and heavier. He wondered if he had made a mistake – not about putting a stop to the memory seal, but about the timing of it all. Perhaps he should have waited for a more optimal time before revealing the truth to the boy? But with the memory seal quarantined off, Naruto would have woken up immediately knowing that something was off, and it would have been damaging to their tentative trust if Kakashi had continued denying him the truth of everything.

"I can't say that I understand completely why Minato-sensei made his decision," said Kakashi, choosing his next words with care. "And I know you were in a lot of pain growing up because of that...We were all forbidden to tell you anything, because we were told it would be safer for you to remain ignorant of your circumstances. But, I want you to know that your father must have had a very good reason to do so, because that's just the type of ninja he was. His last wish was for you to be seen as a hero."

* * *

After the preliminaries ended, they were granted two weeks time to recover and to train for the upcoming final exam. For most of the time, Naruto threw himself into solitary training, doing his best to keep himself busy while staying away from the others. Rai similarly squirreled off into training under the tutelage of Kakashi, whereas Mayu disappeared for long periods of time, seemingly touring the village.

The days dragged by but eventually the morning of the third exam arrived, and Naruto was again set to go first. The exam was held in a much fancier stadium than where the preliminaries had taken place in; the walls were made of hardened clay that reached up around 15 feet around the circular, level platform. The audience sat on rows on top of these walls; Suna ANBU were positioned strategically in the audience both as bodyguards for the high-ranking officials as well as preventative measures, in case any fights got out of hand.

The first match of the day set Naruto against one of Sunagakure's favorites: A blonde Suna genin named Temari, who was apparently the daughter of the Kazekage. Naruto had noticed her earlier – from what he'd seen, she was quick-footed and clever, with a bit of a cruel streak in her tendency to play with weaker opponents. Her weapon of choice was a giant folding fan, and just as the match begun, she'd flown at him on top of it, catching him off-guard enough for her to land a glancing blow off of his leg. But in the end, she was no match for him. As soon as Naruto recovered, quickly gathering that her weakness was close-range combat, he made short work of her with the help of several Kage Bunshin. When he walked out of the enclosed arena, the ensuing polite applause did little to conceal the sullen expressions of the watching Suna audience.

The next match was between Rai and Neji, in which Rai held up surprisingly well despite the hype that had surrounded the Hyuuga boy. Keeping up a steady stream of kunai, his teammate was able to surprise everyone in the stadium – Neji included – by channeling his chakra into some of the kunai and exploding them as they lay scattered around his opponent's feet. Though Neji noticed them in time and managed to avoid most of the fiery explosions, Rai still managed to lightly scorch the stoic boy's leg. Unfortunately for him, this served only to irritate Neji, who'd seemed to be trying to conserve energy by remaining on the defense. Going on the offensive, he managed to corner Rai and with several well-placed hits, Rai was soon on the ground coughing up blood.

After Rai was carried out on a stretcher, Naruto did not pay much attention to the following two fights, though he noted that the girl from Takigakure – Fū, who'd beaten Mayu in the preliminaries – defeated her opponent with ease. Rai had called her the 'jinchūriki' before. That could mean only one thing: that she was the host of a tailed-beast, just like him. Undoubtedly, she would make it to the finals, and if the sharp look she'd shot in his direction was any inclination, she expected the same of him.

In a detached sort of way, Naruto wondered if she knew the truth about him as well. He wouldn't be too surprised, as it seemed he hadn't ever known anything about himself.

With the first round of the matches done, there was a brief break (likely more for the benefit of the watching daimyō than the participants). As Kakashi and Mayu had gone to check on Rai in the infirmary, Naruto sat alone drinking out of a water skin, not paying much attention to his surroundings.

Suddenly, a side of his face was relieved from the burning sun as it fell in shadow. Naruto put his water skin down, and turned to see the Hyuuga boy staring down at him with his arms crossed. His eyes trailed down first to the burn on his leg that his teammate had so graciously given; it looked a bit more raw and painful than it had seemed down in the arena.

"We'll be fighting against each other in the next round," said Neji shortly, and Naruto looked back up.

"It's supposed to be randomized," he pointed out.

The matchups for the winners of the initial round – Neji, Fū, a Suna genin who used puppets, and himself – were picked out from a public drawing.

"Everyone knows it's a farce. They'll want to knock out at least one genin from Konoha," Neji said flatly.

Naruto felt a flicker of irritation. "What's your point?"

"Before we fight, I wanted to tell you something. In this world, as I'm sure you've realized, there is the elite, and then there are the outcasts. We can change our physical appearance and improve our skills with training and study, but ultimately, we are judged by what we cannot change. What can't be changed must be endured. We are who we are, and we must live with it...and with my Byakugan, I can see many things. I've seen how you strive to be the best, so that you can become Hokage." Neji's eyes hardened. "An outcast like you or me could never become the Hokage. Keep that in mind."

The shade on his face moved away, and Naruto was left alone once more. He picked his water skin up again, and drank.

He hadn't expected such a direct psychological attack like that. If surprise had been its intended effect, it had worked. However...

' _His last wish was for you to be seen as a hero.'_

Naruto's lips curved upwards in a humorless smile. Neji needn't have wasted his breath; he'd already known everything he'd said was true.

* * *

Soon, the second half of the third exam began and true enough, Naruto and Neji were matched up for the first battle. When the bald-headed proctor looked up at him expectantly from the arena, Naruto exhaled. Throwing the empty water skin aside carelessly, he jumped down from his seat down into the stage, sending up tufts of sand as he landed.

Neji was already waiting for him. As the crowd buzzed in excitement and the proctor roared something about their shared backgrounds, neither one said anything. For a moment, the two were completely still, simply eyeing each other from across the field. Naruto noticed that the pale-eyed boy was slightly favoring one leg; he'd had some cooling paste dabbed over the burn since they'd talked, but it must have been bothering him.

As if reading his thoughts, Neji spoke up.

"This injury will make no difference in the outcome," he said coolly. "After all...my Byakugan shows me many – "

"Yes, good for you," Naruto cut in. Neji's eyes narrowed, and he continued to glare at him, until Naruto looked away. He waited for the countdown wearily.

Fleetingly, as the sun's white rays beat harshly down on his face, he wondered what he was doing there on that arena.

" _ **Begin!**_ "

Naruto automatically lowered into a basic defensive stance, waiting for Neji to make the first move. Dully, he recounted what he'd learned about the kekkei genkai. Though the Hyūga clan was understandably tight-lipped about it, there were some basic things one could gather about it just by sparring with one of their clansmen. There had been a Hyūga member from the branch in his class, and he'd been able to gather several things from her – the most important one being that the Byakugan, at its most basic, granted its user the ability to see everything at the chakra level. This meant that they could see through solid objects, and illusions such as clones meant nothing to them. Furthermore, as he'd gathered from Neji and Lee's fight, their fighting style took advantage of their Byakugan to make common taijutsu into something much more destructive.

"Byakugan!" cried Neji. Sure enough, the veins around his eyes visibly bulged as the boy activated his infamous heritage. Once activated, he glared at Naruto without making another move; it was clear that he wanted Naruto to make the first move. There were a variety of ways he could deal with this – most people would probably take the long-range approach to avoid Neji's taijutsu.

After a split second's deliberation, he decided.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four exact copies of himself immediately materialized in a cloud of white smoke. From what he knew of the way the Byakugan worked, Neji shouldn't be able to discern his real self from among his clones.

In one fluid motion with his clones, Naruto drew his tantō from his back. He and his clones shot towards Neji, who pulled out his kunai. Metal met metal harshly as his clones kept the pale-eyed genin busy, and at the edges, Naruto continuously feinted in and out.

To Neji's credit, despite having five Narutos converge on him from all directions, he left no openings, and Naruto only managed to get in a few shallow cuts. However, as soon as his summoned clones began to erupt into pillars of smoke, he summoned more, each time managing to get in some more shallow cuts.

Slowly but surely, Neji's legs and arms began to be covered in an abundance of cuts. His breathing grew more labored as his reflexes began to slow.

As Neji thrust his kunai into his clone, turning them into smoke, Naruto gradually moved closer to Neji, swapping his original rear position with one of his clones. As another clone turned into smoke, Naruto moved in and aimed a kick at Neji's legs, which he dodged by leaping back. Simultaneously however, Neji unconsciously turned away his scorched leg in an effort to protect it, a movement which cost him a split second – predicting this, Naruto stepped behind him at the same time. Neji's eyes widened as he realized his back was exposed, but with no time to turn around, Naruto swung his tantō inwards in a sharp arc.

Just before his blade made contact however, he met a strange, almost immaterial barrier and to his surprise, he was then immediately blasted back as Neji spun rapidly in a powerful circle, his black hair fanning around him. As Naruto hit the ground, his remaining clones which had also been thrown back disappeared into clouds of smoke. When Neji had stopped spinning, the sand around him had furrowed into a shallow hole.

Naruto looked at the other genin in surprised silence, and in response, Neji smiled grimly. Despite the number of cuts on his body, he stood firm in his confidence. Spreading his feet apart, he bent down sideways, touching the back of his hand to his foot.

"It's over now," said Neji coolly. "Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms..."

Naruto let out a sigh. If Neji hit him with that, things could actually turn quite dangerous for him. He'd wanted to take his time whittling the other genin down with his clones, but it looked like that wasn't possible now. He hadn't wanted to use this again unless he had to but...

Stepping back, he lowered his body, allowing his muscles to relax. He felt the chakra that ebbed through his body. At his urging, he usually manipulated it into becoming sharp and thin to channel it into his weapons. This time however, he twisted his chakra to curl in on itself into a ball, becoming tighter and tighter with each twist, until it began to vibrate. Sending it down his body, the ball expanded, enveloping his feet with a crackling sound.

As this all happened, Neji swung his body around and then threw himself forward with both hands outstretched towards Naruto. The prospect of victory gleaming in his pale eyes, Neji was just about to make contact with the other genin – when, with a sudden loud cracking sound, he disappeared.

A split millisecond later, Naruto was behind Neji, and before the other genin had even realized, he'd hit him hard on the back of his neck with the blunt end of his tantō. Slowly – as if even his body was refusing to accept it – Neji swayed, and then fell on his knees. He was unconscious before he slumped to the ground.

The crowd cheered animatedly.

Since Naruto could project his wind chakra into his weapons, he'd reasoned that he should be able to project his chakra through his body as well. But instead of wind chakra, which was best for offensive attacks, he'd decided to work on his speed. In order to do that, he had focused on manipulating his chakra into a different element – lightning. The first obstacle had been getting down the feel for what lightning chakra felt like: It was very different, in both shape and feel from his natural affinity, wind chakra. As soon as he'd gotten the hang of it, Naruto had begun focusing on running the current through his entire body, with the idea of electrically stimulating his nervous system – and then almost immediately, abandoned the idea. He hadn't realized how painful it would be, or how much chakra it would consume to constantly be supplying his system with lightning chakra.

After some pondering, Naruto had next focused on localizing the stimulation to just his lower legs and feet; as the body parts most farthest from his brain, he'd theorized that boosting them would provide the greatest improvement in his speed. And sure enough – though it did sting quite uncomfortably, hence why he avoided using it whenever possible – when his feet were stimulated with the lightning chakra, his enhanced kickoff greatly increased his initial speed and made it look, to the untrained eye, as if he had suddenly disappeared and then reappeared elsewhere.

The sun was now high in the sky and it pounded on Naruto's neck as he looked down at Neji's prone body. A feeling he wouldn't have recognized before bubbled up inside him. But now that his eyes had been opened, he knew it as contempt – contempt for the trapped bird in a cage that had yearned to be loved by the cage.

"You're pathetic," he said coldly. Yet even as he spoke, he did not know who his words were for.

Naruto turned around and walked out of the arena, leaving the roar of the crowd's approval behind him.


	15. The Promise to a Dream

Following Naruto's victory, the fight between Fū and the remaining Suna genin – an older boy named Kankurō – was short and decisive. Dressed in white with a dark skin-tone, she'd physically stood out starkly besides Kankurō, who was light-skinned and wore all black. And once the match begun, the difference in their skills was made clear as well.

Though he handled his puppet with clear talent, it was no match for the destructive cloud of termite-like insects that emerged from the red tube on Fū's back. Seeing the insects rapidly swarm across the ground towards him, Kankurō barely managed to get out of their way; as he did so, realizing that the insects could climb across chakra threads, he was forced to detach himself from his puppet. In a matter of seconds, they completely covered and stripped away the puppet's exterior, leaving behind only a wooden carcass which then collapsed in on itself. Apparently having sated their appetite, the insects then returned to Fū's tube. However, with his weapon gone, and clearly shaken by the ordeal, Kankurō soon surrendered, and to the groans of his watching Suna countrymen, he sheepishly plodded off the arena.

After dusting herself off, Fū nonchalantly stretched backwards. Then, with glittering baleful eyes, she locked gazes with Naruto, who'd been blankly observing the battle. He stared back, and after a moment, she looked away.

As the jōnin proctor told the audience there would be a brief intermission before the final match, Naruto noticed that a masked jōnin had just emerged form the infirmary building. Though he gave the man no further indication of his recognition, the man soon came and sat down next to him.

"Hey," Kakashi greeted him. When Naruto didn't say anything in respond, he let out a small cough. "I'm sorry I missed your match against the Hyūga kid. I got caught up with medical paperwork...hm...so, do you feel ready for the final match?"

Naruto shrugged noncommittally.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Kakashi sighed. "I won't push you, Naruto. Just know that you're not alone in this. I'm here, and your teammates are here to support you... At least in spirit."

"Spare me the sentimentality, sensei," Naruto finally said, getting up. "There's no need for this. I'm perfectly aware of my current situation."

Kakashi looked taken aback. "And what situation is that?"

Naruto spread his arms wide in a sweeping motion. "This exam is a farce. Whether I win it or not, it'll make little difference in the way everyone looks at me. Even Mayu and Rai would turn their backs on me if they knew, and you know it."

Kakashi paused. "I haven't turned my back on you."

"...You're different, sensei." Nonetheless, Naruto fell back in his seat. The tendril of unfamiliar anger that had flared up inside him just a moment ago had already faded away, leaving behind only a crushing weariness. "But nobody else will think that way. Nobody will ever acknowledge me. What's the point in trying?"

"So you're saying your efforts were all to get people to acknowledge you? That doesn't sound like the Naruto I know."

Naruto didn't respond. After several minutes of taut silence, Kakashi moved away.

Looking out over the dusty, sand-filled arena and the rowdy crowd that filled the seats around them, Naruto cast his thoughts back to a time when he hadn't even been tall enough to open the window.

It was back when Naruto still hadn't known what chakra was. His caretaker at the time always refused to open the window for him, saying that if he fell out and died, she would be blamed for it. So, in the summer when the nights were hottest and he found it difficult to breathe, Naruto would pile his wooden blocks on top of his tattered book of folk tales and carefully clamber on top of the teetering stack. Balancing his weight, he pushed up against the firmly closed window, and more often than not, he would lose his balance and fall over, the stack crashing painfully on top of him. But sometimes, the window budged open just slightly enough for a thin cool breeze to enter the room, and he would be able to breathe again. On those days, his dreams were always pleasant. Sometimes, he'd even dreamed that his parents – though always faceless – were alive and lived with him.

Who'd have thought that in reality, it had been his own father who had sealed away a monster inside of him and sealed his fate forever?

Closing his eyes tightly, Naruto shook his head, trying to clear away the memory.

He'd once watched the sun set from that very window, hoping beyond hope that he would one day be accepted. He'd sworn that he would own the hearts of Konoha and that he would become Hokage. He'd fantasized about how people would regard him with awe as he walked down the village streets, looking at him with trust and respect in their eyes.

He hadn't realized then that he was a wolf in human skin, but  _they'd_  known all along. They must have been laughing as he studied and practiced for hours every night in a vain effort to become one of them. Laughing as they sealed his memories, watching him lose himself piece by piece until he was only an empty shell. He could tell that even Kakashi-sensei's concern stemmed from the pity one reserved for the most pathetic of creatures – the ones that tried to become what they were not.

A bitter smile stretched itself across his face.

The worst part of it all was that even knowing the truth, somewhere deep inside of him... he still craved their acceptance.

* * *

"As the final match of the Chūnin exam, the victor will be decided only by killing or incapacitating his opponent," the proctor informed the watching audience. "And in this battle, we have Naruto Uzumaki from Konohagakure and Fū from Takigakure!"

Waiting for the signal to start, Naruto took in his opponent. As she had done with the Suna genin, her figure also made an odd contrast to his own, with his black tracksuit, and his red hair and blue eyes. Noticing his gaze, Fū looked back at him and crossing her arms, smiled darkly.

His eyes narrowed; her stance screamed of confidence. Was she going to use her jinchūriki powers?

He thought it unlikely. If jinchūriki truly were taboo – as it seemed to be – then Fū would likely be under strict orders from her village to not reveal her jinchūriki status. As it was so far, she hadn't shown any signs of it, but that could simply have been because she had not been pushed enough. Whatever the case, one thing was clear – she was dangerous, and he knew next to nothing about her, making the situation doubly dangerous.

He stopped. Unconsciously, he'd begun analyzing her out of pure habit. But...

...did it really matter? As he'd told Kakashi-sensei, the outcome of this match meant nothing.

"Begin!"

Unlike with his match against Neji, Naruto made the first move. Gathering his lightning chakra to his feet, he drew a kunai and sprang at her. The proctor's words were still reverberating through the arena when Naruto appeared in a flash behind her. Without hesitating, he slashed downwards at her exposed neck.

But to his alarm, the blade did not pierce her as expected, but instead, bounced off.

"Hiden: Rinpungakure no Jutsu  _(Secret: Hiding in Scale Powder Technique)_!" Fū shouted just as – despite his surprise – he flashed away; nevertheless, several particles ended up in his eyes, filling his vision with bright painful spots.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu  _(Shadow Clone Technique)_!" To buy time, Naruto blindly summoned several clones into the arena. Jumping backwards, he let them siege the Taki genin as he recovered and processed the newest addition to his mental profile of her. Her skin had felt oddly thick and stiff, almost like armor...or a shell. A simple blade obviously would not be enough.

Just as the last clone burst into smoke, his vision returned to functioning level. Fū had been driven back by his clones, but now, was quickly advancing on him headfirst. In a single fluid motion, Naruto drew his tantō from his back. Furrowing his brow in concentration, he ran two fingers down it's blade, running a current of wind chakra down its edge. Next, he ran back up, layering another current of chakra above it. He could sense the two opposing currents grounding against each other, finely sharpening the blade.

Eyeing his opponent, he stepped backwards, shaping and directing his chakra towards the heel of his foot as he ground it into the sand. Fū tensed and began to slow down; Naruto exploded towards her, holding the tantō with both hands. With no time for her to react, his blade struck her abdomen. Once again, he met the strange shell-like barrier on her skin – but this time, he felt something give way, and with a loud breaking sound, several cracks appeared on her skin.

Grimacing in pain, Fū jumped back; a thin line of red blood was trickling down her front. In another flash, Naruto was behind her again with his tantō, slamming the blade ruthlessly this time against her back. Even as it crushed through her shell, to his surprise, she reached out with a hand and grabbed the blade. Opening her mouth, she turned her head and silently screamed, unleashing a gale of scale powders at his face.

Forced to abandon his tantō, Naruto flashed away to the opposite side of the arena where he was just out of her reach. He watched as, with a hiss of pain, Fū wrenched the blade out from where it was wedged in between the cracks of her arm and threw it on the ground. Then, putting her hands together to make a sign, the top of the red tube on her back flew open and a black cloud of clicking insects emerged.

They were different from the termite-insects she had used previously; these looked more like beetles, but with a row of several wicked-looking pincers. As one, they headed straight for him, their hard shells gleaming brilliantly.

"Fūton: Kyōfu  _(Wind Release: Gale)_!" He blew out a gale of strong wind, throwing most them off course as they flapped their scaly wings rapidly in a struggle to stay in the air. Meanwhile, following her beetles, Fū lunged towards him and making the signs rapidly, she began to exhale her signature scale powder at him.

Before they fully escaped her mouth, however, Naruto kicked out with his feet, hitting her in the side. She fell to the ground several feet away, her powder exuding uselessly by her side.

Using that time, Naruto ran to where Fū had flung down his tantō, and picked it back up. Running his wind chakra down its length, he flashed behind the dark-skinned genin, slashing at her once more. Leaving behind a dark long line of blood, he quickly flashed away before her beetles – which were regrouping around her – could catch him.

As she spat out a globule of blood and spit, Naruto dug his heel into the sandy ground in preparation for his next move – but stopped with a sudden yelp, as he felt numerous and tiny feet begin to crawl their way up his leg.

Looking down in alarm, Naruto realized belatedly that several columns of Fū's termite had burrowed out from below ground – without his noticing, they must have mixed with the swarm of beetles before disappearing underground. In his mind's eye, he recalled the eaten carcass of Kankurō's puppet. Already, he could feel them chewing through the leg of his tracksuit.

Sending another wave of lightning chakra down his leg, Naruto flashed away, slapping down at his leg as he did so. Turning his hand up, he saw the smeared bodies of the insects across his palm. Thankfully, the remaining insects had fallen off as he escaped.

However, this presented a new dilemma. Either Naruto would have to keep moving around to avoid them, or he would have to deal with them somehow – and with the beetles and Fū already chasing him around, that would make this even more difficult.

Making up his mind, he cut off the current of wind chakra he was sending down his tantō, and instead began channeling lightning chakra down it. With a crackle, the blade began to hum as the chakra ran along its length.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the swarm of beetles diving towards him once more. Fū remained in her position, seemingly concentrating on manipulating her insects all at once. The termites were nowhere to be seen, but were likely making a beeline towards him underground once more. Readying his tantō with both hands, Naruto took a step back, burrowing his heel into the ground. He felt a droplet of sweat begin to ease down the side of his face. The beetles were almost on top of him – something tiny was popping out of the ground's surface, and –

Thrusting the tantō down into the sandy earth, Naruto simultaneously flashed away. As the blade broke through the surface, crackles of bright blue electricity from its tip broke the ground into chunks around it, surging through the emerging termites. At the same time, a current of electricity surged up through the blade into the air directly above it, electrocuting the swarm of air-borne beetles.

As one, the twitching, blackened insect bodies all dropped down on the ground. A final current of electricity crackled across the ground, before everything was still.

Breathing heavily, Naruto fell on one knee to rest. Wearily, he looked in Fū's direction – and recoiled.

She glared at him balefully, her face contorted into anger at the sight of her insects' demise. The sudden dark intensity of it inadvertently made him want to take a step back. Naruto hesitated; his every nerve was urging him with growing intensity to escape. Even as he watched, something red and ominous began to emanate off of her in waves – somehow, her chakra had made itself visible. The pupils of her orange eyes grew narrow and sharp. White fog was steaming off of the cracks in her skin, and before his very eyes, they faded away, leaving her skin behind as good as new. The malicious red chakra shivered around her, before suddenly seeping to her back and splitting into two long shapes.

Insect wings, Naruto realized, as they began fluttering behind her. His eyes wide, he regarded the girl that now took off into the air before him. Even at a distance, he could tell that she was somehow much faster and stronger now. Was she using the power of the tailed beast?

Naruto glanced at the stands filled with the watching audience – though most of them looked taken aback or confused, he noted that the Kazekage's face had not changed at all. Rather, the man looked attentively – almost eagerly – down at them, as if collecting information.

Returning his attention to the match, Naruto blinked in shock. In that split second, Fū had flown across the entire length of the arena. Without his lightning chakra, he would have been done for already – as it was, he barely had enough time to lift up his arms to brace himself as she dove straight down at him. Her fingers had sharpened into what could only be called claws, and they dug painfully into the sides of his arms. The impact was so powerful, even as Naruto braced himself, he was blown off of his feet and sent tumbling across the sand. Before he could gain his bearings, he felt her claws settle around his legs, and suddenly, there was nothing below him, as she lifted him clear off the ground.

"Fūton: Kyōfu  _(Wind Release: Gale)_!" Rapidly making the signs, he arched up and blew out at the winged girl; struggling not to be swept away by the strong wind, Fū was forced to release him. Landing on the ground, Naruto somersaulted back to his feet and immediately made the hand seals for his next move. Instantly, several clones materialized beside him, each panting along with him as they looked up at the flying, glittering figure above them.

"You can't beat me," Fū called out from above. A cruel, eager smile played at the edges of her lips. "You may have noticed by now, but my 'teammates' fear me for a reason."

Lunging for his tantō, he turned just in time to raise it protectively before him. Reaching out with a claw, Fū grabbed the blade, heedless of it digging into her shell-like skin. For a second, the two struggled, each pushing against the tantō with all of their strength. With frustration, he saw as his clones tried to strike the jinchūriki girl; however, her chakra insect wings lashed out through them and in an instant, they were all gone.

Thinking quickly, Naruto loosened his hold on the tantō enough to catch Fū off guard; slackening her push just enough, he managed to yank the blade out of her reach and flash away. Appearing behind her in an instant, he raised the tantō high above his head. As exhausted as he was, as Naruto pushed the remainder of his chakra into its length, he did not have the time or the focus to shape it into one of his elements as he usually did. Simply willing it to spin as uncontrollably and powerfully as possible at the blade's tip, he brought down the tantō through the air with a sharp splitting sound.

The sand exploded at his feet and chunks of earth flew through the air; with a shattering sound, Naruto felt the metal blade crack in two from the impact. Behind it, his body jarringly hit the ground; his eyeballs rolled around in his rattled skull, and he tumbled across the ground several times before finally coming to a stop.

For the first time in a long time, Naruto felt completely spent. Panting heavily, he remained still on the ground, waiting for sand to settle down.

He had lost.

He'd known, the moment he struck down. Her reaction speed honed by the red tailed-beast chakra, Fū had managed to dodge that final blow, with all of his remaining strength in it.

Sure enough, a collective gasp swept across the mesmerized audience, as a grimy but perfectly fine Fū emerged from the dissipating dust clouds. Landing on the ground and folding her wings behind her, she threw a victorious smile in his direction. Leisurely, she began to walk toward him, like a prayer mantis slowly creeping up on its prey. It was completely silent.

Turning away, Naruto let his head fall back. He looked up; there was not a single cloud in the blue sky. The sun's rays dazzled his eyes, and he let them close shut. The sudden blackness was soothing, and he felt his consciousness circle around his body. His heartbeat, which had been palpitating rapidly, slowed down.

Off-handedly, Naruto wondered if he was going to die.

Nobody was going to stop the match. Perhaps it was for the better. He was tired of trying. No matter what he did, it hadn't, and wouldn't make a difference. All those years, what had he been trying to prove? The moment the Nine-tails had been sealed inside of him, his fate had been sealed along with it. He was forever meant to –

"Naruto!" A high voice cut through his hazy thoughts.

Caught off guard at the sound of his name, he automatically opened his eyes. The sunlight beat down on his eyes once more, and wincing, he craned his head up – and froze. Looking fiercely down at him, a girl with long brown hair stood determinedly on top of the stands.

"Mayu...?" Naruto said out loud incredulously at the sight of his teammate. From the corner of his eye, he saw that even Fū had temporarily paused; with her head cocked, she regarded the girl with puzzled eyes.

"Is that all you've got, Naruto?!" Mayu shouted down at him, cupping her hands around her mouth to magnify her voice. "You're going to become Hokage aren't you?!"

He looked back up at the stands. His eyes felt hot; the watching crowd was growing blurry. Only the pale, worried faces of his teammate and his sensei stood out in sharp focus.

Suddenly, as something white and red shot towards him, Mayu cried out in alarm, "Naruto!"

Tumbling over, Naruto was back on his feet; the sand where he had just been lying down on burst apart from the impact of Fū's sudden blow.

Dredging for the very last of his chakra, he flashed farther away to safety. Across the arena, Fū glared warily at him. She was back in the air, hesitating about what her next move should be.

Rapidly, Naruto's mind raced through his available options. The only way out of this would be to take her out in a blow strong enough to kill, or knock her unconscious. However, he was out of chakra and was physically exhausted, while his opponent was currently high on tailed-beast chakra and quite possibly the strongest person he had ever faced before.

But his vision was clearer than it had been in a long time.

As always, whenever in a tight bind – Naruto withdrew into the sanctuary of his mind. But this time, he realized for the first time that the giant block that had been restricting it before had been moved to one side. There was just enough room to squeeze past it, and when he did, he saw that there was a long, watery corridor that led off into the darkness. Hesitantly, he took a step forward and suddenly –

He stood before a tall metal gate. He could feel something huge and dark lurking behind it, but a single seal on the gate doors blocked its escape.

" _Come closer..._ " A terrible voice filled his head. It was raw and brutal, as if it had been screaming for days on end until blood ran down its throat.

" _You must be Nine Tails,"_  Naruto said quietly. In response, a massive clawed paw suddenly swiped through the bars of its prison, just barely falling short of tearing straight through him. He didn't move, calmly looking into the blackness. Just beyond the bars, he could make out the shadowy shape of something white and bloodshot glaring balefully back at him.

" _What do you want?"_  It snarled gutturally.

" _Lend me your chakra,"_ he said. _  
_

* * *

It was clear to everyone watching that somehow, in that split second, a sudden change had come over the Konoha genin. Fū, the Taki genin, noticed as well – looking alarmed, she had stopped her approach.

"Ah...my tantō broke," the redheaded boy said, looking put out at the sight of his broken weapon. "I guess I'll have to do without it this time."

"What's going on?" said Fū, cocking her head. "Just a second ago, you were completely out of chakra." The boy thought about it for a second.

"I collected some rent," he said.

With a scowl, looking as if she deeply regretted taking her time, Fū shot forwards at him with her arms outstretched. It was clear she meant to finish him at last, with one blow.

In response, Naruto crouched down, holding one hand over the other; something chaotic and destructive spun wildly between them. Meeting his opponent's hard gaze, he leapt forward.

The two met each other head on with an explosive bang that rocked the stadium, and a shockwave of dust and sand swept through the arena. When it had cleared, only one silhouette remained standing.


	16. Glow of a Firefly

At the ripe old age of five, Fū had quite confidently decided, in her not-so-humble opinion, that her home was the most beautiful place in the world.

She lived in the village of Takigakure, an abode which nestled at the edges of the roots of an ancient, colossal tree that guarded them from the rest of the world. It towered over a sparkling clear lake which was pure enough to drink directly from, and farther down, a thin but regal waterfall, the namesake of their village, tumbled down over the side of a cliff.

Fū and her mother lived together in a small, modestly-decorated house at the farthest edge of the village, but they were also the closest to the guardian tree, so Fū never minded. The other village children never liked her anyways; whenever she tried to join them as they played swim-tag through the underwater roots, they threw rocks at her and told her to go away.

It hurt, but Fū wasn't alone. She had her mother, a quiet older woman with long green hair and dark eyes. When her mother wasn't tired after a full day spent working in the village rice paddies, she would hold her hand and carry her up the trunk of the guardian tree to a faraway branch where they would sit and talk and laugh.

She also had her pets. For her birthday present one year, her mother gave Fū a tank with a colony of white shiroari, which were termite-like insects. A multitude of insects lived alongside the village people at the roots of the guardian tree, and it wasn't uncommon to adopt them as pets. Fū thought they were quite cute, with the way they squirmed around her fingers. At first, she'd had to take care of them outdoors – after all, if they escaped, they could very well eat through the wooden frames of their house. However, once she'd found that she could control them if she fed them her chakra, her mother had allowed her to bring them inside their home.

And finally, she had Chōmei, a blue kabutomushi  _(beetle)_  that lived inside her mind.

" _I think I'll try adopting some kabutomushi too,"_ she told him, stroking his green wings.  _"So you'll have more beetle friends like yourself."_

" _For the seventh time, I'm not a beetle,"_ he said tiredly.

" _Whatever you say,"_  she said, giving him a thumbs-up.

If Fū had to decide what the best part of Takigakure was, it would have to be the Firefly Festival. Every summer, the Festival was the one night a year when everyone's houses were dark. All the villagers rowed out to the lake in their canoes with their lanterns; when the sun set and everything was pitch black around them, they opened them and let the fireflies fly out. The glowing fireflies and their reflections in the lake illuminated their boats, reminding them of all of their loved ones who had died in battle. Fū and her mother often prayed for her father; she'd never known him, as he'd died just before she was born, but she did know that he was a ninja who had fought in the war.

" _How about I get some fireflies too?"_ she pondered, rubbing his shell exactly where he liked it.

Chōmei snorted. " _They're fragile, and die far too quickly._ _Stick to the ones you've already got."_

" _I stuck some of my baby shiroari on Mushimi yesterday,"_ Fū grinned.  _"He kept scratching, and he didn't know why. He thinks he has lice now, and his uncle's furious."_

" _Nice!"_ Chōmei wiggled his tail in his best impression of a thumbs-up.

When Fū's mother died when she was seven, her world suddenly grew ugly. Their house was too big for one girl, and as time passed by, mold and fungus crept into its cracks and it slowly fell into disrepair. It was alright in the summer, and there was always plenty of fish in the lake so she never went hungry. But as the cold breeze of winter began licking at her toes, Fū realized that she would have to do something. After being refused by every repairman in the village, she tried to clear away the weeds and board up the holes herself, but it was beyond her. Nevertheless, she kept at it every day, licking her bruises where she'd hammered her own fingers instead of the wood as Chōmei performed cheering routines in her head.

It was one such winter evening that Gobuki, the village leader, approached her. He was a stern-faced man with dark hair; Fū knew that they were distantly related through her father, but he had never come near their house before, so the only times she had seen him were during the Firefly Festival.

Unlike the rest of the village people, Gobuki wasn't cruel, but he was still a practical man who told her in matter-of-fact tones that Chōmei was actually a monster that had been sealed inside her, and that she was expected to learn ninjutsu and use his powers to kill the village's enemies.

"I don't want to kill people," said Fū, after thinking it over.

Gobuki paused and looked at her oddly as he stroked his beard. "Well that's what you were born for. A lot of good ninja sacrificed their lives capturing Chōmei so it could be sealed in you."

" _Not my fault,"_  Chōmei interjected in her head, making a rude gesture at Gobuki.

Fū cocked her head to the side. "Why me?"

"Your mother offered you," Gobuki said flatly. "Which I always found odd, considering your father was one of the ninja killed by Chōmei."

No, the world had never been as beautiful as she'd thought.

And so, over the years, Fū trained under a variety of teachers who made little effort to contain their hatred for her. Grudgingly, they acknowledged that she was clever and a quick learner, but most abandoned their post after several months, unable to stand being in such constant contact with the village monster. Nevertheless, she mastered all the basic genin-level ninjutsu by the time she was eleven. Then, working with Chōmei, she began working to gain greater control over the Seven-Tails' power until she could even begin to change form and adopt some of his capabilities.

The first time she managed to project two scaly wings like Chōmei's, heedless of the fact that it was nighttime and that she was exhausted, she flew up the guardian tree. Even with the temperature dropping rapidly, she flew higher up than she'd ever gone before, until she finally its very peak.

The view took her breath away. With wide eyes, Fū slowly took in the open canvas of the black sky, which reached endlessly out in every direction, ending only where it touched the expanse of dark forest that surrounded them. She'd never been able to see the sky properly before, because the tree tops blocked so much of it.

Raising a hand up, Fū marveled at how many of them there were. She hadn't realized that there were a million stars that hung like fireflies, lighting up a faraway world that was out of her reach.

One day, when Gobuki had gone away on a secret mission, the village deputy who'd been left in charge summoned Fū. He was a thin, dark-skinned man named Haike with narrow, guarded eyes; unlike Gobuki, he'd never hidden the fact that he despised the Taki jinchūriki. He told her there would be a Chūnin exam in Sunagakure in a week, and that she was to go there with one of the Taki team cells. Upon meeting her new teammates, Mushimi and Suzuru, Fū scowled. Mushimi, as she quickly recalled, had been one of her old tormenters. He was Haike's nephew, and he eyed her with intense loathing as soon as he'd laid eyes on her.

As soon as she'd finished carefully inserting the last of her shiroari and kabutomushi into a padded wooden tube which she then strapped to her back, Fū was whisked off to Sunagakure.

As expected, the Chūnin exams were a breeze. For the first exam, in which they had to break apart the opposing team's boulder, all she had to do was send over her cute little shiroari at the opposing team to distract them, while simultaneously crawling into any cracks in the rock. With a stern order to her shiroari to not eat the genin, their rock soon felt apart and they passed.

The next exam, Mushimi and Suzuru immediately abandoned her and ran off with their team plate, which was fine with her. The idiots of course got their team plate stolen by another team; she hunted and took back the team plate, and then with vindictive pleasure, frolicked around her tied-up 'teammates' as they glared at her sullenly. She then burrowed inside a dead-end tunnel near the surface to take a nap, but accidentally mistimed it. Nevertheless, Chōmei frantically shook her awake just in time to meet the exam's deadline.

Despite that tiny mishap, the remainder of the exam was also going swimmingly, when something went wrong.

Her preliminary went by in a flash – afterwards, she couldn't even remember the names of her opponents. The Ame genin had gone down with little effort, but the other genin from Konoha had proved a little bit more tricky. She'd used a long-range medium for her genjutsu, with irritating squawking blue birds that Fū had had to take great pains to avoid. But in the end, of course, it hadn't been a problem.

After two weeks of loitering around – while making sure her shiroari and kabutomushi were breeding properly – her following match came, and it wasn't much of a challenge for her either. Her opponent was a Suna genin who seemed to have an extraordinary amount of pride in his puppet. Her shiroari had just bred recently, and she'd been making sure to keep them extra hungry; Fū took great pleasure in seeing his horrified expression after having them eat up his puppet in a few seconds.

In the final match – as it should've been – Fū faced off against the other most powerful genin in the exam. He was a red-headed boy from Konoha, with a tantō that must have been at least half his short height strapped across his back. But despite his disarmingly young appearance, the genin, Naruto, had been making waves in the Chūnin exams as an especially dangerous opponent to watch out for.

The battle had been going more or less in the direction she expected, when the boy suddenly slammed his tantō into the ground and electrocuted all of her insects.

" _No!"_ she screamed, her vision flashing red as she watched them blacken and shrivel up. In her mind's eye, she recalled with a flash her mother's eager face as she watched Fū unwrap her birthday present.  _"Chōmei!"_

" _You sure?"_  he asked uncertainly, tail whipping around fretfully.  _"I thought we'd agreed not to attract too much attention._

But at her insistence, he reluctantly agreed, and she transformed into her initial jinchūriki form before proceeding to pummel the brat into the ground where he belonged.

Fū probably should have ended it there then, but she'd always had a rather nasty habit of playing with her fish before skewering them.

The worn-out boy seemed to have given up all hope, and had just been lying still on the ground, his chest slowly rising up and down with every breath. To his credit, he did not seem altogether afraid.

And then –

"Naruto!" With some encouraging words from his teammate, the redhead was back on his feet with renewed strength in his eyes. Fū had been taken aback at first, watching with disbelief as it all happened, but she finally dove towards him with her hands outstretched.

With her enhanced vision, she could see the artery in his neck pulsating. Just a single slash, and he'd be dead, and she'd have avenged her poor insects.

There was something materializing in his hands; it was chakra, made so dense that it had become visible. Fū narrowed her eyes, but kept going; she was confident that there was no way it'd penetrate her hardened shell armor.

They met each other head on. Fū swiped at his neck, but he dodged; nevertheless, she reached under his arms, and lifted him off the ground. As she did so, she felt the ball of chakra he'd summoned slam into her torso. The impact was so powerful, the sand around her exploded up with a bang like massive waves, hiding them from the watching eyes of the audience.

Gritting her teeth, Fū held on to his struggling body, and streaked upwards to the sky. Letting out a hiss of pain, she felt the ball of chakra grind abrasively against her armor and begin to inch its way inwards to her flesh; with shock, she realized that her armor was cracking. Panting, Naruto determinedly continued to drive his hand against her. It was like a small contained storm that tore away at her shell as if it were made of paper.

Before Fū could pass out from the pain, she dove, and just before they reached the ground, she released the boy. With another explosive crash, a shockwave of dust and sand swept through the arena.

Gasping in agony, with blood dripping out through the gaping cracks of her armor, she soon dropped to the ground, her wings curled protectively around her. Black tendrils of unconsciousness began to creep upon her vision.

When the sand had settled down, the match was over. Holding their breaths, the watching crowd quickly identified the victor.

There was stunned silence. And then –

"The winner of the battle is...Fū from Takigakure!" the proctor announced, as shakily, Fū got to her feet. At the other side of the arena, Naruto lay unmoving on the ground, his eyes closed. There was another long pause – and then the crowd rose to their feet, erupting into an uproarious round of applause.

The Suna medics were already moving into the field with a stretcher, but a silver-haired jōnin with a Konoha forehead protector – likely the boy's sensei – stopped them. Beside him stood the girl who'd interrupted their battle. Come to think of it, she was the same girl who'd been a headache to deal with in the preliminaries; Fū couldn't quite place her name. She was white-faced as she followed the jōnin, but just as they knelt beside the redhead genin, he stirred and opened his eyes.

"Naruto!" said the girl, looking quite relieved as she threw her arms around the dazed boy.

"Ow," he winced, and she immediately let go, apologizing. The jōnin asked him a few questions, to which Naruto shook his head no. Waving away the stretcher, the jōnin and the girl helped him get up. Silently, Fū watched as they hobbled out of the arena together.

" _What's wrong?"_  Chōmei asked, sensing something was off.

" _Nothing,"_ she said, feeling a lump in her throat.  _"Chōmei, you saw what happened with his sudden chakra surge. Do you think that kid is a jinchūriki like me?"_

" _Everyone knows Konoha got their hands on poor Kurama,"_ Chōmei said contemplatively.  _"Though we don't know who the vessel is right now. It's not unthinkable."_

Fū cocked her head, her brow furrowed. " _But his teammates don't hate him."_

" _Maybe he has a better personality than you,"_ Chōmei offered.

With the help of several brave, but wary Suna medic-nin, Fū was soon patched up. Wincing as they healed her with the soothing blue glow of medical ninjutsu, she noticed Suzuru skulking around the bleachers. Oddly enough however, Mushimi had disappeared; even after scanning the entire stadium, she couldn't find him. She'd been half-expecting an abrasive rebuke about her entering her jinchūriki form...with a shrug, Fū stopped thinking about it.

After an hour, the Chūnin certification ceremony was held. All of the genins – having been more or less restored to a conscious state – stood in line before the Kazekage, who gave another boring speech about the honor that the title of chūnin held and the duty they owed their villages. And then, the names of the passing genin were called.

"Fū from Takigakure," said the Kazekage, glaring out at her from under his green pointed Kage hat. Hopping up, she collected her chūnin certificate of achievement to polite applause. Rolling it up immediately, she stuffed it in her strap.

"Uzumaki Naruto from Konohagakure." No surprises there; looking much recovered, the redheaded genin walked up and accepted his certificate.

"Kankurō from Sunagakure." This time, the Kazekage's face eased up just a bit as he looked down at his son. With a pat on his shoulder, the boy accepted his certificate with a bow, to enthusiastic applause.

"Hyūga Neji from Konohagakure." With a blank expression on his face, the boy took the certificate and walked away without any further response.

And so on and so forth; three more genin were awarded the certificate – two from Amegakure, and another one from Konohagakure. The Konoha boy, who had a scar running down his face, looked stunned as he walked up to receive his certificate. But as soon as the paper was in his hand, and he'd examined it to make sure that it was real, the boy began jumping up and down in excitement. As he distastefully watched the boy holler, the look on the Kazekage's face made it clear that he was beginning to regret his decision.

To end the ceremony, a row of Suna jōnin performed some impressive tricks with their jutsu, making fountains out of sparkling sand and giant structures that towered over them. And then, just as the sun was beginning to set, it was finally over. With an air of shooing the strangers out of their village, the Kazekage dismissed them all and disappeared.

It was then that Mushimi finally appeared. Pocketing something that jangled in his pouch, he exchanged a meaningful glance with Suzuru. Then, turning to Fū with a scowl, he motioned towards the village gates with a jerking gesture.

And so, they left Sunagakure.

As they began the long trek across the sand dunes back to their village, Fū couldn't shake off the feeling that something was off. Mushimi and Suzuru seemed to be avoiding her gaze even more so than usual; tense and sweating profusely, they looked around every now and then, as if expecting something.

She glanced around at their surroundings, but all she could see was sand. " _Something's up,"_ said Fū, eyeing the boys in question.

" _I agree,"_  said Chōmei. However, despite their unease, nothing happened the first day.

But on the second day, just as they were nearing the border between Fire country, Fū sensed them.

As she realized that she was being watched, her senses grew hyper alert. Without stopping, she began to pick up her pace, and soon, she had left her teammates behind. Her heart pounding, she raced across the tree branches of the heavily dense woodland.

Suddenly, with a blur, a figure landed directly in front of her, blocking her way. Fū came to a stop.

"Hold up there, kid." The man had slicked back silver hair, and was dressed in a long black cloak with red clouds and a chin-high collar.

Fū's eyes darted to the blood-red scythe he held in his hand, and snarled, "What do you want with me?"

"Honestly?" The man seemed to genuinely think it over, though his purple eyes never strayed from her face. A gruesome smile lit up his face. "I want to offer you to my god...and by that I mean I want to tear your face up with my scythe, and feel your agony as I rip through your nerves, cell by cell, reveling in your every –"

"Shut up and do your job, newbie." A gruff voice joined in; Fū spun around in shock to see a tall man in a similar black cloak, with a black mask covering much of his face. He wore a Taki forehead-protector, but there was a slash running straight across the middle. Taking in his bizarre appearance, Fū knew for sure that she had never seen him before in her life.

As she watched, the tall man tossed something to the side, and it took a second for Fū to process what it was; when she realized, she jerked back in alarm.

Mushimi and Suzuru's decapitated heads, still dripping blood at the base of their necks, stared back at her with shocked, glassy eyes.

"Not that I care," said the purple-eyed man, "but I thought we made a deal with them?"

"They had only half the money they promised," growled the tall man. He turned his pupil-less green eyes towards Fū, who took a step back.

" _Let's show them what we can do, Chōmei,"_ she said, ignoring the trembling in her legs.

* * *

After a long, hard day of traveling, they had finally left behind the deserts of Wind country and were at the edges of Fire country. However, with still a half day's journey left from Konoha, they had set up camp for the night.

After a satisfying dinner with some prairie chickens they caught and then roasted over the campfire, Rai and Mayu finally collapsed in exhaustion. Sporadically mumbling words like 'I passed!' and 'I'm a chūnin!' in his sleep, Rai snored away on the grassy ground. Next to him, Mayu dozed in her sleeping bag with a peaceful look on her face. And occasionally stoking the campfire with a stick, Kakashi read a book by the fire's light.

Unable to fall asleep, Naruto reclined on top of a nearby boulder that was covered with light fuzz of moss, looking up at the night sky.

Tomorrow, they would be back in Konoha. Naruto was just as happy as the others to finally leave behind the bleak, endless sandy plains of Sunagakure – but he didn't know how he felt about returning to their home village. He didn't want to see any of their faces; he didn't know if he could ever forgive what they'd done to him.

His entire life, they'd lied to him but still subjected him to their hatred and ridicule. They'd never even given him a chance to figure things out for himself, controlling him by tying him down with the Taboo Seal , as if he were nothing but a senseless, rabid beast.

If Konoha could do that to an ignorant, innocent child, what did the village ideals he'd always believed in even signify? The 'Will of Fire' was taught to every child, whether civilian or shinobi-born, as a symbol of peace and compassion, but it had never seemed to extend towards him.

Naruto supposed most of them had never even thought of him as one of them. His hands curled into fists by his side. That was fine with him; he no longer cared about them either. Or at least, he'd try not to.

However...

He gazed down at the sleeping figures of his teammates. The look on Mayu's face as she looked down upon him in the arena had been completely different from anything he'd seen before. There had been no fear, no disgust. There had been only trust, and an unwavering belief in him. And then in a bolt of realization, Kakashi-sensei's words had flashed through his mind:

" _So you're saying your efforts were all to get people to acknowledge you? That doesn't sound like the Naruto I know."_

Naruto hadn't responded then, but at that moment, his answer had been suddenly clear in his mind. He hadn't been striving all those years to hear praise from faceless villagers who spat at him. He'd been doing his best to stand out for that one day when someone –  _anyone_  – noticed him. Not as Naruto the village pariah, or Naruto the jinchūriki, but as Naruto the Konoha ninja. He had wanted the strength to protect them.

But in chasing after that dream, he'd gotten so caught up in its mechanics that he hadn't even realized that he was already surrounded by people who saw him for himself.

Naruto turned to look at the sleeping forms of his teammates. They didn't know, of course, that he had the Nine-tails trapped inside of him. Kakashi-sensei had told him that they would be going directly to the Hokage as soon as they returned to Konoha, but that until then, nobody else was to find out.

How would they react?

Rai's words, from back when they were in the deep underground caves of Suna, swam hauntingly around in his head:  _"I guess you already know that you were born on the day of the Nine-tails attack... My parents were killed on that day."_

Naruto's heart sank. Surely they would realize that Naruto wasn't the Nine-tails itself? That he was just an unwilling vessel for the beast that had killed their loved ones?

Struggling to contain the raging thoughts in his head, Naruto sighed. Letting his head fall back against the moss-covered rock, he looked up at the star-filled sky. Raising a hand, he stared at the outline of his hand.

Several hundreds of feet away, tucked in the shadows of the surrounding forest, a solitary figure in a long black cloak with red cloud motifs silently observed the campsite. His face was obscured by an orange mask that spiraled inwards, opening up into an eye hole on his right. Ignoring the two sleeping genin completely, his red gaze lingered on the jōnin for a second before resting on the redheaded genin who lay awake.

The figure stood completely still, watching. He watched as the genin eventually drifted into a fitful sleep. He watched the jōnin sleep, periodically waking up to stoke the campfire.

For hours, he watched and watched.

Then, there was a hiss and then a distorted flickering in his consciousness.

" _We've got the jinchūriki,"_ a voice spoke in his head telepathically.  _"We're beginning the extraction process now."_

Finally, he roused himself. With one last look at the sleeping ninja, he turned to leave, stepping on a leaf as he did so. At the faint sound, the silver-haired jōnin's eyes immediately snapped open, and getting up with a start, the man peered with narrowed eyes at where the figure had been silently watching. But there was nobody there.

He was gone now, but he would keep watching. He was always watching.

* * *

After several days of nothingness, Fū suddenly realized that she had been given bodily form once more.

She was floating in a pitch black world. There was nothing around her, above her, or below her. But somehow, she was there. She felt weak and tired, and even though she had just awakened, she wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep.

With a jolt, she realized that it was eerily quiet where she was. She couldn't remember the last time it had been so quiet. Where was Chōmei?

" _Chōmei?"_  Fū called out softly, taking a step forward. Despite there being nothing there, her foot held in the blackness, so she took another step forward.  _"Chōmei?"_

She kept calling out his name, but he never answered. After some time, Fū finally realized that he wasn't there. She was the only person there.

For the first time in her life, she was truly alone.

" _You know...I really wanted those fireflies..."_ she whispered into the darkness. But of course, nobody responded.

Fū closed her eyes, and everything faded away.


	17. A Will Inherited

The last time Naruto had had a private audience with the Hokage, he had been six years old. The Hokage's office had seemed immense to him then, and the Hokage himself had been an alien, untouchable figure. But as he stood before the desk once more, the room, though big, was contained, and the man had never looked as weary as he did now.

"So you know the truth now," said the Hokage quietly, getting straight to the point. He was seated behind his desk; the white hat that signified his status cast shadows over his lined face.

"Yes," Naruto said simply, remaining stiffly in his standing position.

"Kakashi has filled me in on what he's told you, including the fact that he has suppressed the Taboo seal. But there are still certain things that he has wisely decided not to tell you...or perhaps he has forgotten them himself." With his wrinkled fingers steepled against each other on the desk, the Hokage looked straight at Naruto. "For the village, I sacrificed your childhood. You must despise me."

"...I don't know how I feel," said Naruto, slightly taken aback by the man's directness despite himself. "All I know is that my – the Fourth Hokage was the one who sealed the Nine-tails within me. And that for this, all the villagers hate me. Kakashi-sensei told me that there was an accident when I was six, but I recall that I was unwanted even before then."

"Even I do not still quite understand what happened the night the Nine-tails attacked Konoha," said the Hokage heavily. "But Naruto, did you know that Konoha has controlled the Nine-tails for several generations now? You are not our first jinchūriki. We had two before you...and they were both Uzumakis as well." Naruto's eyes widened by a margin. "Yes, your mother, Kushina Uzumaki, was the jinchūriki before you."

Naruto paused. "My mother..."

"And the one single thing that most weakens a jinchūriki's seal – that is, a jinchūriki's most vulnerable, natural state, is when she is giving birth." The Hokage nodded at Naruto's surprised expression. "Yes, your mother risked quite a lot when she became pregnant with you. I thought Minato would be able to suppress it, but somehow it escaped. I suspect there was a third party, but we've never found any leads in that investigation. Regardless, in the aftermath, Minato and Kushina both sacrificed their lives to seal it once more within you." His face darkened. "Unfortunately, the majority of the village was not aware that Kushina was pregnant. For her and your safety, Minato and Kushina kept her pregnancy a secret. And so, to this day, they still do not understand how it escaped. I believe some people who were not familiar with Kushina may have actually believed that she had released the Nine-tails itself."

"What?" Naruto cut in, his brow furrowed in thought. "Why did you keep it a secret after they died then? Why not tell everyone that I was their son, and that it wasn't her fault?"

"I may be Hokage, but even I do not have the power to control peoples' hearts," said the Hokage heavily. "Fear and prejudice are powerful forces. Following Minato's wishes – the surname 'Namikaze' was widely feared across the nations, and may have instigated assassination attempts against you – you were given your mother's name, 'Uzumaki.' With you being a newly born red-haired infant and having the last name 'Uzumaki,' I'm sure anyone could have connected the dots. But inevitably, rumors were spread. You would not be able to tell given Konoha's present prosperity, but back then, it was a time of great loss and uncertainty. Many people had died, and the great Fourth Hokage had even given his life to defeat the beast. It is unfortunate, but people who are grieving do not always look to reason, and you became an outlet for their pain. It didn't help that even some of the shinobi themselves held preconceived notions about jinchūriki, helping to set off what would soon become a village-wide movement against you Naruto." The Hokage paused. "You may not have been aware of it, but I always had at least two of my ANBU keep watch over you during your childhood. It was rare, but there  _were_ times they had to step in to prevent any bodily harm from happening to you."

"I remember," Naruto said quietly, thinking back to the time when the ANBU had scooped him up from inside his apartment.

"And yet, why didn't I step in?" The Hokage mused out loud, as if reading Naruto's mind. "Why didn't I act as a grandfatherly figure towards you? Why did I seal your memories?" Naruto nodded mutely. "When you were just an infant, I put you in the care of an ANBU-retiree – your caretaker. I had resumed my duties as the village's Hokage and there were many... _many_  things to take care of. I was incredibly busy, but regardless, I checked on you every now and then. You must not remember me, but it was I who bought you your first book – a book of folk tales. And Kakashi was there as well – he carved you a set of wooden blocks.

This may very well have continued in this pattern, if another incident hadn't happened. Right before you turned six, an anonymous organization somehow received intel on you, and sent a squad to infiltrate the village and kidnap you. You were able to release some of the Nine-tails power, and you slaughtered them...but you lost control, and in the process, killed several civilians and ninja who were at the scene as well – including your caretaker."

His mouth turned dry as he rewound his memories back to the morning he had woken up on his sixth birthday to a cold, empty room.

"There was an immediate backlash. Civilians and ninja alike believed this only confirmed their worst fear: that the Nine-tails was taking over your conscious and would eventually be released once more. The most radical of them wanted you to be put down, but they had to be appeased with the application of a Taboo Seal, which's effects I believe Kakashi informed you on." The Hokage's eyes swept over Naruto's tersely set jaw and whitened knuckles, and gave a slight nod. "Your feelings of anger are to be expected. Even at such a young age, you had set yourself apart as a gifted child much like your father once was. And it is clear now, from the level of self-mastery you displayed during the Chūnin exams, that if we had informed you of your situation and taught you to control the Nine-tails, you would have succeeded. Yet, we treated you as an ignorant child – no, as an animal, pushing you back and forth at our slightest whims.

I cannot foresee the future. I had personally inspected Minato's seal, but there were certain elements that had never been used in a jinchūriki seal before. Knowing Minato as I did, I knew he would not have made a mistake – but there was always a feeling of unease whenever I saw you. Your red hair was a trademark of the Uzumaki clan and your whisker-like birthmarks were a result of your receiving your mother's influence while in her womb, but at the same time, you seemed like the very image of a Nine-tails that had been reborn incarnate. And so, I gave into the fears of an aging, feeble mind...

I see that I have given you much to think about. That is all I have to say, unless you have further questions, but all I ask is that you not blame the tool that carries out the hand's bidding; you may hate me as you wish, but I hope that you will keep considering Konoha your home. The villagers have not treated you fairly; they have trampled and spat on you when they should have loved and raised you as one of their own. But believe me when I say that their actions were not out of malice for you. They were a result of fear and uncertainty – a lack of belief in those that had died for the village. However, from having personally looked over your growth through such difficulty, I can now say with a sincere heart that I believe you have the strength to overcome this." The Hokage stopped for a second to bore his gaze into Naruto's. "You must have known this for a long time now but I have only just realized – you are strong, stronger than I had once thought. While I had once seen the Nine-tails in your red hair, all I see in it now is the will of fire that burns within you."

"...I see," said Naruto, carefully keeping his face blank. "Then there is just one question I'd like to ask, Hokage-sama." It was the Hokage's turn to blink; clearly, he had been expecting more of a reaction. "What seal did my father use on me, and how much control do I have over it?"

The Hokage slowly nodded. "Minato sealed half of the Nine-tails within you using the Eight Trigrams Seal, which is a special kind of seal that allows the vessel to access the chakra of the contained beast...and the other half, he sealed within himself using the Reaper Death Seal, which is a seal that requires the caster's death." The Hokage paused. "I do not believe your father intended it to be a curse, Naruto. Did you know, that at one point, Minato was considered the child of a prophecy, and fated to change the world? Jiraiya certainly thought so. However, I believe that Minato thought that it would be you, rather, who would revolutionize this world. And so, he left you this power in order to have the ability to do so."

* * *

Following the talk, the Taboo Seal was quickly and discretely removed. It was a brief affair; baring the back of his neck to the Hokage, the man made a twisting motion with an outstretched hand. There was a flash of white pain, and then there was nothing. Immediately, Naruto could feel the difference. As if a tightly contained, dense fog had suddenly been vacuumed away, the block in his mind disappeared, revealing the large tunnel he had seen earlier. For now, Naruto decided he would hold himself back from exploring it; the Hokage had warned him not to hurtle headfirst into the newly discovered sections of his memory. The influx of lost memories could confuse and overwhelm his brain and lead to possible complications. It would be better for him to let them return on their own – over time, piece by piece, they would fall naturally back into place. As for the Nine-tails itself, Naruto hadn't yet decided how to more formally approach it. According to the Hokage's explanation, he should be able to access its chakra, but just from his brief impromptu interaction with it during the exam, he knew it wouldn't be easy.

The sun was just beginning to set when Naruto finally returned to his apartment and lay face down on his bed.

Contrary to the carefully composed blank mask he'd presented to the Hokage, his mind was still caught up in a whirlwind of questions and indecision. He did not know what to believe. He had accepted the Hokage's explanation as sincere, but that did not mean he had to like it. Typical of a doting father, the Hokage had tried to cover for his ignorant children's behavior, but Naruto no longer needed their approval.

Speaking of fathers...it was still hard to take in that the legendary Fourth Hokage was his. And contrary to how Naruto had perceived it as a child, it had not been his father but his mother who'd been his connection to the Uzumaki clan. He had first felt betrayed that his parents had been the ones to seal the Nine-tails inside of him, but the realization that his mother had been the jinchūriki before him took some of the sting away. The Hokage had also said that his father had hoped he would be able to harness the Nine-tails' power for the sake of the world and by extension, the village. Whether or not that was true – the Hokage had been laying it on a bit thick near the end – he didn't care about any of that, or the will of fire. Why should he have the desire to believe, cherish and fight for the villagers when they would never do the same back for him?

Naruto shifted his grudging body around and looked up at the empty ceiling.

What he did want was to become strong, however – strong enough to be able to protect the people he did care about. And the only way to accomplish both would be to stay in Konoha.

The skies outside were dark when Naruto restlessly jumped to his feet and left the apartment. Wandering about through the marketplace which bustled with activity in the dinner rush – ignoring the looks, as always, that some of the passing villagers were giving him – he found his feet automatically moving him toward the direction of Ichiraku's, from which emanated the rich, heavy smell of ramen.

Lifting the entrance flap, he saw a flash of silver as one of the sitting customers turned around to look at him. Hesitating for a brief second, Naruto made his way past a rowdy crowd and sat next to its source.

"So – a miso pork ramen, large, extra garlic? The usual?" asked Ichiraku's owner, hanging over the counter; despite the hubbub he always seemed to be able to spot Naruto's telltale red hair.

"Yes please."

"Ah that's what I forgot." From beside him, Kakashi leaned his masked face against his hand. "Extra garlic on mine too, Teuchi."

"Coming right up," said the man, returning his attention to the boiling metal pots before him.

As they waited for their food, they sat there quietly, letting the outside conversations wash over them like white noise. And when their ramen bowls were set before them, they tucked in, making sure to slurp loud enough for the Ichiraku owner to hear. Only once both bowls were cleared and their stomachs verging on the uncomfortably full, did Naruto finally speak up. "What'd you think of my final match, sensei?"

"Hm?" said Kakashi distractedly, putting his book down. "Ah yes...that was an interesting move you did back then, Naruto. You might've gotten her, too, if you didn't slip up there at the end."

"So you noticed," Naruto nodded. "I'd thought about it in theory but I hadn't actually tried it before then. It was harder than I thought it'd be. What I did was, I made my chakra – "

"You made it dense to give it power, spun it in multiple directions to give it rotation, and then merged it together to give it stability. And...you messed up at the stability step. Am I right?"

Naruto blinked, and Kakashi let out a small chuckle. "Believe it or not, you're not the first person to have thought of that, Naruto. It's called the Rasengan. I'm curious though – how did you think of it?"

"That time back in Yugakure, when you used your Raikiri, it helped me realize that there's more to jutsu than hand seals," said Naruto. "It gave me the idea of channeling a certain amount of chakra to a certain area of the body to enhance its function – and for someone like me with excessive chakra stores, I knew I could somehow utilize the destructive power of pure chakra. Though I see now that it's harder than I thought it'd be to keep it under control..."

"I can teach you how to better stabilize it," said Kakashi, looking at Naruto. "If you'll let me."

Naruto could sense the second question that lingered unspoken in the air, but he had already made up his mind. "Yes sensei."

"Alright then," said Kakashi with a nod. "We'll get started right away. Meet me at field B tomorrow at seven am. Sharp." With a clatter of his chair, Kakashi got up to leave, tucking his precious book into a pouch on his side.

Naruto regarded him skeptically. "So you mean noon."

"A ninja always keeps his word, Naruto."

Ichiraku's owner cleared his throat meaningfully.

"Is that why you're leaving me the bill?" Naruto asked dryly.

"I only treat cute little genin. You're a chūnin now – you're one of them big boys. But you know, it's interesting..." Kakashi looked thoughtful.

"What is?" he asked, despite himself.

"Did you know that the Fourth was the one who invented the Rasengan?" Through his mask, Kakashi smiled at Naruto's dumbfounded expression before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

It was a cold evening that day in Konoha. The last lights of the marketplace had expired, and the remaining stragglers of the night had turned in for the night. The only movements came from the moonlight reflecting off the slightly tilting masks of the ANBU that watched over the unsuspecting village from the tiled rooftops. From below their anonymous masks, their breath came out in white wisps that quickly faded in the night air.

At the base of the Hokage mountain was the Hokage's office. Heedless of the late hour, two figures stood stiffly in the dimly-lit room. One was the Hokage, dressed in the white robes of his office as usual. The other was a tall, elderly man with bandages covering half his face. The way they stood was familiar, but tense – they had known each other for a very long time now, but their relationship had grown colder over the years as the difference in their opinions of how matters should be dealt had increasingly diverged.

"So you told the jinchūriki the truth," said Danzō coolly.

Hiruzen tiredly folded his hands together. "Naruto already knew the truth. I owed him an explanation of it at the very least."

"What do you owe a jinchūriki?" Danzō scoffed. "That was foolish of you. What if he turns against us?"

"He won't," said Hiruzen.

"My sources tell me the boy isn't the type to be won over with flattery and praise."

"No...but underneath all of that, he is still just a boy." Hiruzen turned his head to look out the window at the Hokage monument. From where he stood, it was so close he could see the cracks along the carved mountainside. "He gets along with his team, and Kakashi will treat him well. That's why I put him there. And ultimately, Konoha is his home, regardless of how he has been treated. He won't so easily turn his back on it."

"We'll see." With an expressionless look on his face and a curt nod of his head, Danzō left. Hiruzen watched his departure with calculating eyes; he could tell Danzō was up to something again. He would have to keep a closer eye on him – whenever the man got that look on his face, something unexpected inevitably happened.

Folding his hands behind his back, Hiruzen slowly walked over to the window on the other side of his office. From there, he could look out over the entirety of the village. It always filled his heart with warmth to see the civilians going about their daily activities, the ninja rushing around to hand in their missions or slack off at Ichiraku's, the children at the Academy sparring with sweat on their brow...

His gaze alighted on one particular rooftop; its inhabitant was likely sleeping right now, but Hiruzen knew him to be one of the most gifted and hard-working genin – now chūnin – in the village. In any other circumstance, the boy would have been widely praised and acknowledged for his genius and resourcefulness, but fate had not been kind to him. And yet, even so, he persevered.

For the most part, Hiruzen hadn't lied to Danzō about Naruto. But there was one thing that he had said for the sole purpose of easing Danzō's paranoia – and that was that Naruto was just a boy.

But he wasn't just a boy.

Hiruzen may have been exaggerating at certain points at the time, but he hadn't been lying when he told Naruto that he saw a fire in him. At the moment, it was contained – but smoldering. Given time, he could see it turn into a great bonfire.

He wondered though – was it really the will of fire? Or was it something else?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This marks the end of the Chūnin exam arc.


	18. Day of Departure

_Huff...huff..._

His lungs felt like they were on fire and his vision was starting to blur, but the man, gritting his teeth, continued to leap across the tree branches. Dark-toned and dressed in nondescript black clothes, he blended almost perfectly into the darkness of the night. The only thing that gave him away was the frayed scroll clutched in his hands that gleamed white under the stray rays of moonlight that interrupted the shade of the forest canopy. His heart thudding loudly in his chest, as sweat streamed down his face, the man cautiously looked behind him.

He was alone.

Letting out a tiny sigh of relief, the man felt some of the tension leaving his muscles. As the hot blood coursing through his veins began to slow down, he suddenly realized that the wind blowing strongly against his face was cold. At the thought, he slightly lowered his pace, letting himself catch his breath.

The rumors were true, then. Konohagakure's security, once renowned as an impassable steel wall that blocked out all intruders, was no longer what it used to be. The past fifteen years had not been kind to the village after all – their most famous trio, the Sannin, had left the village, and in the invasion of the Nine-Tails, they'd lost their Yondaime Hokage, leaving behind the increasingly decrepit Sandaime to try and rebuild the village.

He looked around – but there was still nothing, besides the occasional rustling of squirrels and birds lower down.

His lips edged up in a triumphant smile. For a man past his prime, the Sandaime hadn't done such a shabby job, but the village's strength was nowhere near what it'd been at its peak. He hadn't even been questioned at the village entrance; the chūnin on gate duty had glanced at him once and then waved him in. Breaking into the Archives had been just as easy, using a simple genjutsu to trick the chūnin at the desk into thinking he'd already left, and then slipping out just as the guards changed shifts.

However, despite how smoothly the operation was going, the man had still grown antsy – he  _was_  in a ninja village after all, regardless of how much it'd fallen from its former glory – and almost slipped up when he was leaving the village.

Just as he stepped into line behind several civilians at the exit gate, the entrance gate had creaked open to allow another stream of people in, and then the on-duty chūnin raised a hand in greeting. "Another successful mission? Good job."

"Ah, I didn't do much this time," said a deep voice.

"Sure, sure. Oh – Hokage-sama wants you in his office right away, Kakashi."

"Got it."

At the sound of the infamous name, the man had frozen – could it be the Copy Ninja himself? – and slowly turned his head to see. When he saw the infamous silver hair and hitai-ate draped over the left eye, he swore to himself. He knew the mission had been going far too easily; it'd only been a matter of time for an unexpected setback. But it was just his luck to run into one of Konoha's most famous jōnin right as he was about to leave...

Forcing himself to stay calm, he'd looked away. His eyes landing on a shorter red-headed boy beside the jōnin, his pounding heartbeat had slowly grown steadier. However, the boy must have felt his gaze, for he looked up and locked eyes with him – and for a second, he could have sworn that the boy knew exactly what he was and why he was there. But as the man felt a cold bead of sweat drip from his temple, the boy then looked away. The duo passed by, and the chūnin waved him out – and he was home free.

Despite his success, he'd felt uneasy after seeing the Copy Ninja right under his nose, and he'd booked it as soon as the walls were out of sight. But now, it seemed that truly nobody in the village had noticed his intrusion. And even if they did find out, it was too late now to catch up to him, since he'd taken care even in his haste to cover up his tracks.

The mission had been a success, then.

Jubilantly, the man looked down at the scroll in his hand. It contained some of Konoha's forbidden techniques, an increasingly valuable commodity in the black market if you knew where to look. His target was a group slowly growing in infamy, called the Akatsuki, that'd been buying out all such village forbidden techniques at prices above their competition. If he sold it to them at a good price, he'd be able to settle his debts with enough to spare.

Maybe with the extra money, he'd drop by the hot springs at Yugakure. He'd heard there'd been an incident there a year or two ago, but things had been quiet since then. Surely it'd be safe now? And the food and the service there were always so good. Lots of good-looking women too –

Suddenly, something heavy smashed into the back of the man's neck, and unable to react, he buckled. He'd been mid-jump so he felt his body hang momentarily in the air before it began to limply free-fall to the ground. As everything turned fuzzy and his vision faded into blackness, the last thing he saw was something red streak over him.

* * *

Naruto had just turned over the unconscious outsider to the intelligence division, when a triumphant cry rang out from behind him. Turning around, he was greeted with an excited-looking Rai skidding to a stop before him.

As the sight of his teammate, Naruto raised a critical eyebrow. In the two weeks they hadn't seen each other, it looked like the boy had again added at least another inch to his height.

After they passed the exam, Rai, like him, had switched to more standard ninja attire, complete with a flak jacket – and in the other newly-minted chūnin's case, a pair of bladed weapons strapped across his back. However, as the months passed by, the already tall boy had hit yet another growth spurt, and now towered over Naruto, who, despite his best efforts, could still pass for an Academy student playing dress-up.

"I saw Kakashi-sensei just a few minutes ago!" Rai said as a means of greeting, glancing curiously at the chūnin taking away the body. "He told me I'd find you here. We're wanted at the Hokage's office."

Nodding in affirmation, Naruto began to briskly head down the mostly-empty street towards the village centre. Trotting along easily by his side, Rai looked around discretely and then lowered his head.

"So that's another B-rank mission done in record time?" he whispered conspiratorially, a hand raised to cover his mouth.

"I wasn't aware there was a record to be broken," Naruto answered absently, as he took mental inventory of his remaining equipment.

"Oh you don't know?" Pulling back, Rai rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The younger chūnin keep a running bet on how much time some of the longer missions will take. The general consensus was that it'd take you and Kakashi-sensei at least three weeks to finish that mission with the Fire Lord's treasurer...but I had faith in you guys."

"You put money on us, didn't you?" said Naruto amusedly.

Rai grinned gleefully, and held up two fingers in a victory pose. "I'll need those winnings if I don't want to be cleaned out, what with celebrating Mayu's promotion and all."

"You're still celebrating?" Naruto raised his eyebrows. They'd received news of her passing the chūnin exam just before he had left for his most recent mission.

"We didn't even start. We can't exactly celebrate without the entire team 7, now can we?" Rai waved a hand dismissively.

Naruto felt the corners of his mouth quirk upwards. "That's true."

Smiling came easier to Naruto nowadays. He'd have thought that what with knowing the truth – or at least some of it – his situation would have grown more difficult, but on the contrary, life had proceeded fairly normally afterwards. Or as normal as life could get for a ninja with the Nine-Tails sealed inside him, anyways.

Naruto wasn't winning any popularity contests, and he wasn't surprised that he hadn't known about the chūnin's betting games for most of them tended to keep their distance from him, but both Rai and Mayu's relaxed attitude towards him had helped to ease some of the misgivings their new comrades may have had toward him. Their fellow chūnin didn't include him, but they didn't go out of their way to bother him, and that was all he wanted.

His training sessions with Kakashi were also going, for the most part, as smoothly as one could expect while repeatedly materializing highly dense quantities of chakra on a regular basis. He'd been able to stabilize the Rasengan to the extent that it didn't drain him, and had even begun experimenting with adding his elemental chakra to the mix, something which, according to Kakashi, the Fourth Hokage had never had the time to complete himself.

But there was still an ever-present weight at the back of his mind: While it'd been over a year since Naruto had had his Taboo Seal removed, he had yet to regain any of his memories of the purported incident when he was six. The few memories he'd lost in the chūnin exams had returned, but his sixth birthday was still a huge blank. Nor had he regained any other memories in between, meaning that they were either so insignificant that he hadn't noticed, that nothing had actually happened, or even worse – that they hadn't come back yet. Kakashi had tried to reassure him, confirming that the seal had really been removed, and that the memories would eventually return in the course of time.

Still – it was unsettling, not knowing for sure whether his own memories were complete or not.

Naruto glanced at Rai, who was now silently walking along with his arms crossed behind his head. There was also the matter of his teammates still not knowing about his jinchūriki status. The problem was, he'd never found the time to do so. Ever since he'd been promoted to chūnin, his daily routine had become a never-ending cycle between training and missions. His remaining time was barely enough for him to sleep, eat, and carry out other basic necessities. With Rai also busy with his new chūnin duties and Mayu practicing hard for the next exam, the chance to bring up such a sensitive topic had just never come around.

A small voice whispered to him that if he'd really wanted to, he could always turn down one or two missions and make time, but Naruto quickly quashed it.

When they were let into the Hokage's office, Naruto was not surprised to find the two remaining members of team 7 already waiting for them. Mayu, glowing in her new chūnin attire, and Kakashi, still in his dusty travel clothes, stood beside a pale black-haired chūnin he had never seen before.

"Ah, Naruto, Rai," said the Hokage, lowering a smoking pipe from his wrinkled mouth. "Good, you're all here now."

The two bowed shortly in the elder shinobi's direction.

Raising his head, Rai curiously stared at the strange chūnin. "You wanted us, Hokage-sama?"

"I realize you've just returned from a long mission." As he spoke, the Hokage nodded at Kakashi and Naruto in turn. "However, with tension escalating between nation borders right now, client requests are at a peak and our manpower stretched thin. I've spoken to Kakashi and he's agreed to accepting this next mission. But if you'd like some rest, Naruto, I am willing to let you sit out on this next mission."

"That will be unnecessary, Hokage-sama," said Naruto immediately. The mission had been long but tedious, and he still had plenty of energy leftover. With Kakashi and his teammates gone, he'd have little to do in Konoha by himself, anyways.

At his response, the Hokage leaned back in his chair with a contemplative look on his face. "Very well, then. I've got here an urgent mission that will require you all to start out by early morning tomorrow. Naruto, Mayu and Rai, you three will be teaming up with another chūnin on a B-rank bodyguard mission to Wave country."

"Wait, what about Kakashi-sensei?" Rai cut in, looking put out.

The Hokage passed his smoking pipe to his hand. "Kakashi is being sent on another mission into Earth country. On this mission, Naruto will be your team leader."

A jōnin standing beside the Hokage stepped forward to hand them their mission scrolls. Unfurling his, Naruto quickly scanned the contents. It was short but clear: it was a standard escort mission that had earned B-rank simply due to the fact that the client was a semi-well known merchant. Considering the current smuggling situation with Gatō in Wave country, it wouldn't be unexpected for the client to be targeted by minor bandits and ruffians on the journey. It was nothing any properly trained ninja couldn't handle, but dangerous for civilian travelers on the road – thus warranting the recent rise in demands for bodyguards.

Naruto glanced at the wan-faced chūnin standing beside Kakashi. The boy, dressed in all black with a tantō strapped across his back, looked only one or two years older than him, but Naruto had never seen him in the Academy before.

"Is that the chūnin we'll be teaming up with?"

"Indeed – this is Sai," the Hokage said, with a simple gesture towards the boy, whose face split into a wide smile. Its intended purpose may have been to disarm, but to Naruto, it looked more eerie and offsetting than anything.

"Hiya," said Sai, with a wave. Turning to Mayu, he held out a hand. "So you must be...Mayu, was it?" With a shy nod, Mayu raised her hand. His smile grew even bigger. "Wow you've got a really forgettable face, don't you?"

Mayu froze. Snarling something incomprehensible, Rai took a step forward, but stopped when Naruto firmly grabbed his arm.

"You must be Naruto!" said Sai, turning to him with a look of delight. "Looking forward to working with you, short stuff."

Naruto let go of Rai. After a beat, he stepped forward to grip the other boy's hand. "Likewise."

After receiving a few more mission details from the Hokage, they began to all file out of the room, when the Hokage cleared his throat. "Naruto."

He paused.

Mayu and Rai stopped as well, but the Hokage shook his head. "I'd like to talk to him privately for a minute."

Once the door had clicked shut, Naruto turned to the elder shinobi. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"You may be wondering why I'm sending you without a jōnin's supervision." Naruto nodded. "It's only been a year since you became a chūnin, but your name has come up several times for a jōnin appointment. Your skills certainly would match up well. The only thing you're missing is experience in leading missions, as you've always been paired with Kakashi. So I'm putting you in charge of the other three – this should be a good learning experience for you."

"Understood, Hokage-sama." Naruto wasn't surprised, and in fact, welcomed the promotion. Being a jōnin would mean he would get more challenging missions, have higher clearance in the Archives, and best of all, he wouldn't have to report to anyone besides the Hokage.

"Naturally, my council is not pleased with my decision to grant you more autonomy, but they've grudgingly acknowledged your good work this past year. However, they pushed me to add this 'Sai' to your team, and I saw no reason to deny them...but I want you to always be aware that his role is to be their watchdog and to report back to them anything he learns about you. I assume you know what this means."

"Yes, sir." Clearly, the Hokage wanted Naruto to gather information on Sai at the same time he was being observed.

"Lastly, I sent Team Shirakumo to Wave country just yesterday, so if you do run into trouble, you should find friendly faces at a reachable distance. Don't let your pride stop you from taking advantage of that."

"...yes, sir," said Naruto slowly.

With a satisfied nod from the Hokage, he was dismissed. Turning sharply around on his heel, he left the room. Walking down the empty hallway, his thoughts turned to the journey that lay before him.

It would be his first long-distance mission without Kakashi. He wasn't nervous about whether he was up for it, since the jōnin had always preferred to take the backseat and let Naruto handle most of the dirty work. But it was a little strange to realize that this time around, if he somehow mishandled things, his teacher wouldn't be around to clean up after him...

Naruto frowned, clenching his hands tightly. Such a feeble mindset wouldn't do. He'd sworn to get stronger since he'd lost in the final round of the chūnin exams, and now, a year later, this was the first test to truly prove his own mettle to himself. There would be no 'ifs' about it – he would fulfill the mission, period.

As he stepped out of the building, he was surprised to see the rest of his team waiting for him. Seemingly having gotten over the less-than-optimal introduction in the Hokage's office, Rai was grinning widely, and even in the dim lighting, Naruto could make out Mayu's red cheeks.

"About time!" said Rai, pouncing at him. He began to drag Naruto down the street. "C'mon, I'm starving!"

"There's really no need," Mayu protested, Kakashi following languidly behind her.

"What're you talking about? I promised you a meal if you passed the chūnin exams, remember?" Mayu flushed even more, the very tips of her ears turning red. "So? Ramen or tonkatsu? Which will it be?"

"Ramen," said Naruto, raising a hand obediently.

Mayu smiled despite herself. "Ramen sounds good."

"Ramen it is, then," said Kakashi cheerfully.

"Then full steam ahead!" Rai crowed, pumping his fist in the air.

* * *

The next morning, having already packed his essentials, Naruto was out the door as soon as he'd eaten his cereal. The wind felt good on his skin as he made his way to the front gate, and a small smile crept unbidden to his lips. Last night's dinner with his team had done him some good: he felt refreshed and ready.

Their client was waiting for them at the gate, and as Naruto took in her appearance, his eyebrows inadvertently rose. Known as the merchant 'Toru,' he'd expected a typically overweight man sporting a ring on each fat finger. In reality however, she was a thin, freckled woman dressed in baggy journeyman clothes who looked like she could be closer to his age than to Kakashi's.

"I asked for bodyguards, and I got a bunch of kids?" she frowned, her foot tapping impatiently on the ground.

"We're all qualified chūnin," said Naruto in what he hoped was a reassuring tone.

But the merchant's frown deepened. "Shouldn't you all be in school or something?"

"Shouldn't you be at your appointment with the plastic med-nin?" Sai returned with a pleasant smile.

Mayu let out a squeak of disbelief, but to Naruto's surprise, the merchant smiled toothily back. "Not so gutless, then. Alright, I'll take you lot." She kicked the bulky knapsack by her side, which made a thunking sound upon contact. "You there with the scar – you can carry this for me."

With a scowl, Rai easily shouldered the bag on top of his own. The merchant clapped her hands together. "So, are you all ready? I'd like to cover a lot of ground before lunch."

Mayu looked around curiously. "Are we going by foot? Aren't you a merchant?"

"It's hardly worth paying the fee to ferry a wagon across the sea to Wave country...and besides, I've got all my goods right here." The merchant gestured towards the bag Rai was now holding.

From the sound it had made when she'd kicked it, it was a wooden box, but the contents were a mystery as far as Naruto was concerned. Not that it mattered – 'Toru' was known to be a supplier of a eclectic variety of goods, ranging from precious jewels to dusty tomes, but all his mission required of him was to take her in one piece to Wave country.

"Come on then, let's get moving!" Taking surprisingly large strides, the merchant began to head toward the opening gates.

Hefting his bag higher on his shoulder, Naruto followed, the others right at his heel.

* * *

Idly seated on top of a tree branch, Kakashi put his book down as he watched from afar Naruto and the rest of his team leaving the village. He'd be leaving too, in about half a day, to follow them.

What the Hokage had said about his going on a mission to Earth country had been a nice bit of misdirection – both for Naruto and for Danzō's little spy's sake – but his real mission had been to trail Naruto's team. The Hokage was obviously making a big show out of showing Naruto that he had trust in him and had told Kakashi it was for the sake of observing Naruto's leadership ability, but he knew, and the Hokage knew that he knew, that the reality was that he could not afford to have their jinchūriki running around in unknown territory unsupervised.

Kakashi had agreed because he'd felt uneasy about leaving Naruto alone with a member of Root – but despite himself, he felt a tweak of guilt at the thought of deceiving his student.

All the more reason not to get caught, he supposed.

* * *

"It's been a while since we last went to the hot springs like this," Rai remarked, a note of wistfulness evident in his tone as they peered up at the wooden sign.

It'd been a week since they had headed out, and although they had made several stops here and there at various cities, they'd made good time with only a few minor scuffles. They had reached the border of Fire country around noon at the end of the seventh day and since the boats that ferried people to the Land of Waves only operated in the morning, they had turned in early for the day. As a treat, the merchant – who'd turned out to be a shrewd, but mostly friendly sort of person – was letting them stay at a traditional-type inn, complete with yukata and hot springs. It promised to be an experience not unlike that of Yugakure from two years ago – but this time, hopefully without the crazed renegade ninja.

Waving goodbye to Mayu and the merchant, Naruto and the other two boys made their way to the men's section. Stripping down and scrubbing themselves in the bath, they then dipped down in the bubbling water of the hot springs. The only other occupants were a scattered number of elderly men, and a father with his young son in the shallow end. He couldn't completely rule them out as potential assailants, of course, but he didn't think he needed to be on high alert; judging by the looks of it, the pair in the opposite end couldn't have had more than a handful's amount of teeth between the two of them. But more importantly, their hands, which were resting along the wall, looked unscarred and relatively uncallused – they were hardly that of a ninja used to a lifetime of handling weapons.

His soaked towel resting on his head, Naruto relaxed, feeling some of the tension leave his muscles.

Beside him, Rai let out a contented sigh. "Remember when we tried to make Kakashi-sensei take his mask off?" His arms behind his head, Rai leaned back against the stone wall of the tub. "Man, it feels like forever ago. And we never did figure out what he looks like."

"I've seen it," said Naruto casually.

With a splash, Rai's towel fell into the water as he incredulously leaped to his feet. "What? How?!"

"We were on a mission together, and I walked in on him brushing his teeth one morning," he explained to the other boy's astonishment.

"So?" Rai prodded him. "What'd he look like? Did he have a huge scar? Was he ugly?"

"Now you're just talking about yourself," Sai interjected with a placid smile.

Some of the eagerness fading from his face, Rai shot him a nasty look. "I wasn't talking to you, you pasty little – "

"Can you sit down? Your dick's hanging in my face."

Turning red, Rai opened his mouth – but Naruto reached up and gave his arm a warning squeeze. After a pause, looking disgruntled, Rai nevertheless sat back down with a splash.

After a few more minutes of soaking in the hot water, Naruto excused himself (leaving the two boys glaring daggers at each other – or rather, Rai was, while Sai continued to smile amiably at nothing in particular). Changing into a yukata that the inn had provided, he covered his wet hair in a towel and left to take a cursory look around the inn's grounds. It was then that he noticed someone hunched over in front of the wooden fence that separated the men's bath from the women's bath.

It was a large man with shaggy white hair cascading down his back. He was peering through a small crack in between the slats of the fence and laughing delightedly to himself. What caught Naruto's eye, however, was the large scroll strapped to the man's back; he couldn't be sure, but it looked like a summoning scroll.

But before he could decide what to do, the man let out another cackle, and reached into his kimono to pull out a orange book that Naruto immediately recognized as one of Kakashi's favorite reads. As he did so, he noticed Naruto staring at him, and his face immediately turned grave.

Holding up a finger to his mouth, he made a slitting motion across his throat in a clear promise of death. The man then returned his undivided attention to the spectacle that lay beyond the fence.

After a pause, Naruto walked past.


	19. Heaven-Shaking Event

The attack came under cover of mist.

After an early night's rest at the inn, Naruto and the others had risen before the sun, and gotten on board one of the very first boats to Wave country – a small but sturdy wooden fishing boat, manned by a self-professed freelance poet wearing a woven straw hat.

The fog grew steadily thicker as they approached the small island country, and the only sound Naruto could hear was the rhythmic sloshing of the oar as it sliced through the water's surface, made opaque by the reflection of the overcast mist. The conversation, which had been scant to begin with, had all but died down in the face of the grey morning.

Rai had fallen asleep again, and even as Naruto watched, a trickle of drool silently made its way down the side of his face.

It was just as well that Rai had been sitting next to Toru, for just as Naruto reached out to shake the other boy awake, a pair of pale, slimy hands shot out from outside the boat and seized the merchant by the shoulders.

A look of shock and then fear flashing in quick succession across her face, she mutely toppled backwards, breaking the surface of the water with a loud splash. While Mayu and Sai jumped to their feet (with a yelp, the boatman ducked behind them), Naruto managed to lean across Rai in time to grab her ankle with his already outstretched hand. Before he could lose his grip or be pulled over himself, he dug his elbow into Rai's chest, and planting his feet against the wall of the boat, he pulled back, feeling the strain in his arms immediately.

As Rai choked and wheezed back into consciousness below him, two more dark shadows suddenly burst out of the water from the other side of the boat, and from their hands split off a multitude of smaller shadows that flew straight toward them. Mayu and Sai, with a kunai in each hand, hovered protectively in wait.

"Rai!" Naruto shouted out, as the piercing sound of metal striking metal resounded across the water's surface. His eyes immediately focusing, Rai reached upwards with a grunting sound and wrapped his arms around the merchant's kicking legs. Sticking his head in between, Rai leaned forward, gritting his teeth. Letting go of Toru's legs, Naruto quickly made the necessary combination of signs with his freed hands, noting with some anxiety that with the merchant's head underwater, her struggling had started to weaken. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu ( _Shadow clone technique_ )!"

In a burst of white cloud, two clones appeared by his side, and they both immediately dove into the water. As they did so, Naruto rejoined Rai's efforts and grabbing Toru around the torso, he pulled back. After a few seconds, with his clones keeping the underwater assailant busy, the opposing pull on the other end suddenly gave way, and as they fell backwards, the merchant's head resurfaced with a wet gasp. Her body tumbling back onto the boat, she hunched over on all fours immediately, shaking and coughing out water.

Meanwhile, Sai had pulled out a scroll, and with a flourish of his brush, a pair of white and black drawings that Naruto quickly identified as bats had burst out of the page. They disappeared into the fog, in which he could already hear the sound of bluebirds' twittering, and shortly afterwards, the storm of shuriken came to a halt.

"Fūton: Kyōfū ( _Wind Release: Gale_ )!"

A strong wind swept into existence, sweeping away the fog surrounding the boat – and revealing nothing but a recently disturbed surface. As if in response, Naruto's two clones popped their heads above the water, and as he dispelled them and gained their memories, he let out a sigh.

"They got away," he told the others, though it was mainly for the merchant's benefit. Mayu's bluebirds had already returned and were perched on her shoulders, pecking lightly at her nape.

"They were ninja weren't they?" Rai said, his eyes narrowing. "What village were they from?"

"They weren't wearing any identifiable markers," said Mayu, as she petted a bird with her finger. With a whisper, they swirled back into hairclips that returned to her hair.

Naruto crossed his arms. "They were mercenaries...But it's strange. They were a cut above the ones that've attacked us befo – "

He broke off at the sound of strangled coughing; Naruto turned to see Toru on all fours again. Water and bile were dripping from her mouth.

"Toru-san! Are you alright?" asked Mayu, rushing over to the woman's side.

"I'm fine," said Toru weakly, her face still pale. Naruto noticed that near her collarbone was a sizable hand-shaped bruise that was already growing purple.

Naruto turned toward the boatman. "How far are we from our destination?"

"I'm fine, I said," Toru insisted, even as she bent over the side of the boat, making a gagging sound.

"We're not that far from port," the boatman offered helplessly. "So long as we aren't attacked again, we should see land in two hours."

"She's a civilian – a head wound like that needs to be looked at immediately," said Mayu, shaking her head. Naruto's gaze shot back to Toru, and he immediately spotted the blood on her scalp. Hesitantly, he opened his mouth –

Rai stood up. "I can carry her and run the rest of the way. I was the least useful in that fight. Might as well show my worth now."

"Aha – so you do have some sense of self-awareness," said Sai, with an indulging smile. "Your development isn't as regressive as I feared...but still, futile. Your carrying her would jostle her skull and make it even worse."

"You got a better idea then?" Rai demanded, but Sai had already pulled out his scroll once more. Dipping a brush in ink, his hand blurred across the page, and a large black and white bird was soon unfurling its wings before them. Sai clambered onto its back, and Rai and Naruto carefully picked up the merchant – who was now too weak to protest – and laid her behind him. Sai quickly drew something on his scroll, and this time, a long snake burst into existence, which he used like a rope to fasten Toru into position behind him.

"Please don't get killed on the way back, now," said Sai, as the bird rose into the air. "There'd be too much paperwork to do by myself."

* * *

Just before they reached shore, a black and white fish popped its head out of the water, and when Naruto opened an empty scroll, it turned into black calligraphy that seeped into the page.

"They're at the house of an acquaintance," Naruto read off the message. "There'll be someone waiting for us nearby the bridge."

"A bridge?" Rai repeated skeptically. "What's an itty bitty little place like that need a bridge for?"

"It isn't a complete bridge," the boatman said, pausing his rowing to adjust his straw hat. "Tazuna is building a bridge to connect Wave country to Fire country."

"That'd put you out of a job, wouldn't it?" said Rai, in a rare moment of astuteness.

The boatman shrugged. "This is only one of my many jobs. If there was a bridge to connect our country to Fire country, our economy would improve, and other opportunities would open up."

"...and Gatō wouldn't like that, would he?" Naruto said. The boatman shook his head.

"Gatō? Like the shipping magnate?" Rai said incredulously.

"Then were the ones who attacked us earlier Gatō's men?" Mayu asked in a hushed voice.

"It's not impossible. But why would he specifically target a common merchant with barely anything in her hands?" Naruto looked down at Toru's knapsack, which had been left behind. As a B-rank mission, he'd expected some tussles along the way of course, but that recent attack had been different. It had been planned ahead of time, and the fact that they had been able to attack and slip away so easily showed that they weren't ordinary mercenaries. But as he had voiced aloud, the question was – why would they target their client? Was Toru somehow involved with the bridge?

When he realized that no one had answered his question yet, Naruto looked up and saw immediately what had silenced everyone.

From the thick fog which had been obstructing much of their view, a gigantic uncompleted bridge had suddenly emerged. It towered above them as their boat quietly slipped between its legs; coming down from far above, Naruto could hear the distant sounds of hammering and clanging.

When Naruto and the others finally stepped on dock, they immediately spotted Sai, who was seated along the water's edge, drawing something in a small notebook. They waved goodbye to the boatman, who tipped his hat in farewell before rowing away.

"That took awhile," said Sai, closing the notebook shut and climbing to his feet. "I was beginning to wonder whether I should be ordering extra coffins." When Mayu's face paled and her mouth opened, he smiled. "Just kidding. The merchant is doing fine. She just needs some rest."

With that, they began to follow Sai along a dusty but well-trodden path that led away from the bridge.

The mist dwindled rapidly as they got further away from the waterside, and soon, they were walking past a rickety rotting sign and into a settlement with rows of wooden buildings alongside a thin river that cut through its middle. The paint on the rooftops looked like they could have been bright once, but had dulled and chipped away, while some buildings were not even graced with a rooftop, and were instead covered with what looked like cotton sails. Most of the buildings were short, as if clinging to the ground, but at their center was one tall building which spiraled out to a watch post at its tip.

The streets were busy, but not with the hubbub of an afternoon market; the majority of the people there were walking along dejectedly in their straw hats, looking as if they had nothing else to do. Some wore sandwich signs that advertised their willingness for any type of job, while others dazedly lay sprawled out along the sides of the street with a half-empty bottle in their hands. Mayu stopped at one point, when they passed by a group of small children sitting hunched over against a wall, but was pulled away by Rai.

As the others followed Sai inside what looked like a grocery store, Naruto paused as for some odd reason, he felt like he was being watched. Then, his hand whipped out and firmly grabbed the wrist of a bony man whose hand had been straying too close to the bag on his back.

"Careful," he said, giving the wrist a warning squeeze before letting go. With an answering yelp, the man scampered away and disappeared into the throng of people passing by. For several moments, Naruto waited with narrowed eyes – but the sensation that he was being watched had disappeared. He frowned; were the people of this village really so poor and broken as to try and rob a (seemingly) defenseless child in bright daylight? He'd visited a large variety of places with Kakashi over the past year, but never somewhere as pitiful as this one.

The store's bell clang as Naruto entered, and he'd barely been able to take in the scarcity of the nearly-empty shelves before he realized that his teammates were talking to a bespectacled old man with a towel wrapped around his neck and a girl in an eye-catching red qipao. She looked vaguely familiar with her long pink hair, and she was wearing a Leaf hitai-ate like a hair band.

"Ah, and there's our team leader," said Rai, gesturing toward him. The old man raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed.

"I don't think I even saw this many kids in the entire village while I was there," he said exasperatedly, though not unpleasantly. "You ninjas sure start out young."

"Who are you?" asked Naruto, looking curiously at the odd pair.

"I'm Tazuna, master bridge-builder," said the old man, tipping his straw hat with some pride. Naruto nodded, his thoughts turning to the bridge they'd seen as they docked.

"I'm Sakura. I'm here with Team Shirakumo," said the girl, and Naruto nodded again, remembering that the Hokage had told him about them. Her eyes flitted to the Leaf hitai-ate on their foreheads, and lit up. "So you four are all from Konoha too, huh?" She scanned their faces, and to Naruto's surprise, paused at his. A look of recognition flashed across her face. "Oh...I remember you! You were in my class for a bit, weren't you? At the Academy? The quiet one?"

"Oh wow, I actually forgot...Naruto, you were transferred to our class late, huh?" said Rai, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Naruto had stopped paying attention to his classmates early on, so he couldn't say he remembered 'Sakura,' but he did vaguely remember having once sparred against a girl with her hair color.

However, without responding, Naruto looked straight at Sakura. "If you're on an escort mission, why are you still here?"

Immediately in response, Sakura looked away and bit her lip, while Tazuna coughed uncomfortably.

"This sort of talk would be better kept behind closed doors," said Tazuna, directing a meaningful look towards the shopkeeper. "I'd invite you to my home, but it looks like you already have somewhere to be?"

The others looked at Sai, who shrugged and pointed at a small stairway near the counter. "We're already here."

Exchanging a few words with the shopkeeper – a short man who looked nervously around the store's premises – they headed up the stairs, which creaked at every step. Sai knocked four times on the door, and after a few seconds, they heard the sound of shuffling. The door opened a crack to reveal an eye, before opening to reveal Toru, whose head was swathed in bandages; her face seemed to have regained some of its previous color.

She stepped back, ushering them in with a quick wave of her hand. "Quick, come on in. Nobody's supposed to know I'm...here..." She trailed off as she finally saw Tazuna standing at the edge of the group.

He gaped back at her, his glasses hanging askew. "Kaine!"

With a blank look on her face, Toru regarded Tazuna silently before finally heaving a sigh. She opened the door wider in a sign of invitation. "...You'd better come in, then," she said quietly.

Inside was a small, clean three-room apartment not unlike Naruto's own home in Konoha – but judging by the poverty of the rest of the village, it might have been considered luxurious. Toru – or Kaine – disappeared into the kitchen, and with Mayu helping, distributed cups of tea for all of them. With everyone sipping from the hot tea, the story soon came out.

"My real name is Kaine," said the merchant. "And as I'm sure you've deduced by now, I am being targeted by Gatō for being an accomplice of the bridge's construction."

"So you were our mysterious benefactor?" Tazuna said heavily, looking down at his untouched cup. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"What good would that have done?" snapped Kaine. "Whenever you weren't working on the bridge, you were just a bumbling, drunk fool of an old man."

"The past year hasn't been kind to you," said Tazuna, not rising to the taunt.

"At least I'm still alive," she retorted. "Which is better than what I can say about my dear brother."

There was a pregnant pause; while Sai appeared to be gazing at the design of the tea cups with some fascination, Sakura and Mayu stared wide-eyed at the hard-faced merchant woman. Rai uncomfortably gulped down his tea, and Naruto followed suit, taking his first sip of the drink. It was bitter.

"You are angry with me," said Tazuna at last. "For being alive."

Kaine's head snapped back as if she'd been slapped. "Why would I be?"

"You wish I'd been the one executed instead of Kaiza," said Tazuna. This time, it was Kaine's turn to be silent.

"Um...who's Kaiza?" asked Sakura awkwardly, raising a hand as if she were in class.

"The hero of this city," Tazuna answered and at the same time, Kaine said, "My brother." Kaine's mouth thinned into a single line, and Tazuna took off his glasses to wipe it with his sleeve before continuing. "He married my daughter, and became my grandson Inari's father. They were like a true father and son, and inseparable...but when Gatō took over, he stood up to them. And for that, he was executed in front of everyone. Kaiza was the bravest man I ever knew, and died because of it."

"My brother wasn't brave," sneered Kaine, her hands visibly tightening over her cup. "He couldn't protect his first family, so he ran away to Wave country and thought he'd redeem himself by playing at being a hero, only to get killed...but I suppose compared to you, he was brave." She raised her eyes aggressively toward the older man. "He didn't cower behind a fence, watching as an innocent man got murdered. He didn't sit complacently at home, drinking himself silly and venturing out only when someone gave him some coin. He wasn't brave, but he wasn't a  _coward_ like you."

"That's not true!" Sakura burst out angrily. "Even though it was dangerous, Tazuna-san came all the way to Fire country. On the way to Wave country, we even got attacked by a missing-nin named Zabuza!"

Naruto's eyes widened and from beside him, Rai spit out a mouthful of tea.

"A missing-nin...?" Mayu repeated, growing pale.

Naruto didn't recognize the name, but by principle, all missing-nin were dangerous. Any ninja who could leave their village without being caught by their village's hunter-nin had to be at least jōnin-level.

Sakura jumped to her feet, looking upset. "Even Shirakumo-sensei got injured during the battle. But after all that, Tazuna-san went right back to the bridge to continue working on it. Another man quit today, but he still isn't giving up!"

"That's alright Sakura," said Tazuna, though he looked rather touched. "What Kaine is saying isn't wrong."

"...if you can realize that, then I have nothing else to say to you," said Kaine, white-faced. "Please leave."

At her words, Tazuna's form sagged, making him look even older than he had before. But without protest, he nodded. Leaving his tea still untouched, he reached for his straw hat, which he had hung neatly on a chair.

He paused before the door. "Thank you for your funding, Kaine. If this bridge is completed, this city...no, the entire country will be in debt to you." With a nod to Naruto and the others, he left. Shooting them a final pleading look, Sakura followed him.

Several minutes after the door had closed shut, Naruto got to his feet. Keeping his voice neutral, he said, "Well, we have to get going now. I apologize for your injury, but if you want to file any complaints about our work, you'll have to contact our village by post." Mayu and Rai jumped at his words.

Slowly shaking her head, Kaine reached into her pocket to pull out a handful of coins. "No, your work was satisfactory. This should cover your passage back to Konoha." She averted her gaze. "Thank you for escorting me here. I wouldn't have made it without you kids."

Rai hurried to drain the rest of his tea, and the rest rose to their feet. After a few murmured farewells, they left the apartment.

"Hey...Naruto," said Rai hesitantly, as the store's bell clanged behind them. He looked up at the building with a troubled expression. "Can we really just leave it like this?"

Naruto glanced back. "Our mission was to escort her to Wave country. There was nothing about staying here and helping her clean up her life."

"I guess you're right," said Rai, his face clearing up. "It's not like we could do much about it, anyways."

They began to walk away, but a few seconds later, Naruto stopped, realizing that Mayu hadn't moved. She was picking at the tail of her hair in the way she did when she was anxious about something, and her eyes seemed fixed on something. Following her gaze, he saw that she was staring straight at a small, hungry-looking girl begging for food on the other side of the street. Naruto suppressed a sigh.

"Mayu – " Rai started, but she suddenly put up a hand, silencing him.

"You heard what Sakura said," Mayu said quietly. "Their sensei – Shirakumo-sensei – is injured. That's probably why they're still here. Can we really just go without helping them? They're from Konoha too."

"So this isn't about the orphans at all," Rai said sarcastically, crossing his arms. "Or about Tazuna and that mess with Gatō."

Mayu turned pink. "So what if it is?"

"We're ninja, not philanthropists," Rai hissed. Sai drew in a sharp breath, and they all automatically turned toward him.

"Did you sense something?" Naruto asked, looking around. The feeling that he was being watched had returned, but there were too many people milling around for him to pinpoint the source.

Sai shrugged. "I was just taken aback that he knew such a big word...But you should probably stop talking so loudly about all this. We're drawing attention to ourselves."

Before Rai could retort something back, Naruto put a hand on his shoulder. "Sai's right about people watching. Calm down." He turned to Mayu and lowered his voice. "But Rai is right too. We're not philanthropists. Our mission's complete. We don't know anything about the situation besides what we've just heard from two biased sources, and there's little we can do about it. Involving ourselves would mean involving Konoha in a foreign territorial dispute, and the village would lose face with clients."

In truth, Naruto couldn't care less about the village's reputation, but he figured playing to Mayu's sense of loyalty would have more effect than the real reason why he wanted to leave. There was the desire to quickly return to Konoha and rack up points for another successfully completed mission, but more than that – this seaside city made him uneasy. It could've been the way he kept feeling like he was being watched, or it could've been the dead look in everyone's eyes, but whatever the source was, Naruto had been itching to leave as soon as he'd set foot in the city.

It was a pity about Kaine, but Naruto had barely known her for a week, and did not feel the urge to lay down the lives of his teammates in exchange for her continued safety – a safety that, indeed, well exceeded the conditions of their mission. Because the truth of the matter was, his every nerve was screaming at him that it wasn't safe here. Every minute spent here only increased the chances of their being in irreversible danger, and to Naruto's chagrin, he didn't know if he was strong enough yet to protect the team. He knew he had gotten stronger over the past year with his extensive tutelage under Kakashi, but he had yet to win any of their frequent bouts against each other. And if there was one thing he had learned over the past year on their missions together, it was that the world was large and crawling with unknown powerful enemies. There were many weak ninja, but there were just as many strong ninja. And without the rules that he'd come to be familiar with in the village and the Academy; without the regulations and expectations that, no matter how vaguely, governed the chūnin exam; and without Kakashi acting as an ever-present reassuring shield – Naruto found himself questioning what he was and wasn't capable of, knowing that if he overestimated their abilities, there would be no return trip back to Konoha – outside of a coffin, if their enemies were so kind.

 _Is this what the pressure of being a team leader is?_ , he wondered.

"But Shirakumo-sensei – "

"Shirakumo-sensei is a jōnin, Mayu," said Rai, in a slightly calmer voice. "Sakura's team should be fine, so long as they don't stick their noses in anything more."

"Are we going to go or not?" said Sai, managing to look bored even as he smiled.

Mayu bowed her head, and with some relief, Naruto turned around. He raised a foot to step forward, when to his surprise, she said, "No."

"Uh...Mayu?" Rai asked uncertainly.

"You heard what she said. Toru...no, Kaine-san is still in danger. What kind of ninja are we, if we abandon her here?" She raised her head, and Naruto was stunned to find that her eyes were blazing. "I'm going to stay with Kaine-san...and I'm going to find Sakura's team and see what I can do to help."

"Mayu – " Rai began, but was cut off once more as Mayu held up a hand. She looked piercingly at them – Naruto suddenly realized that her eyes were hazel, not brown – and then when, against all expectations, she smiled, Rai actually took a step back.

"I'm sorry for being so selfish," she said. "But I've never been more grateful that I'm a ninja than I am right now."

Without another word, Mayu turned around and disappeared into the store; the bell sounded behind her like a death knell, and Naruto and Rai mutely stared at the closing door with, for once, identically astonished expressions on their faces.

"Did...did that just happen?" Rai finally let out weakly. "Where did that come from?"

"Is that what they call premenstrual syndrome?" Sai cocked his head, with what looked like a genuinely curious look fixed on his face.

"Naruto?" Rai turned to him with a pleading look, and for once, he found himself unable to think of what to say.

* * *

When Sakura opened the door to the ramshackle house beside the windmill and found Mayu beaming back (with Rai, Naruto, and Sai awkwardly hovering behind), she flung it wide open with a look of delight, and the two girls rushed into each other's arms as if they hadn't met for the first time just a few hours ago.

"I didn't think you'd stay behind!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Of course we'd want to help a fellow Leaf ninja in need!" Mayu said, clasping her hands together. "Isn't that right, guys?"

Rai scratched his face. "Uh...yeah. Totally."

"No," said Sai.

Naruto didn't respond, his mind furiously working to try and salvage the situation.

It wasn't new for Mayu to disapprove of one of his decisions, but she had always deferred to them...until now. After the initial shock, his immediate thought had been to order her as team leader to return, and if that proved insufficient, to resort to whatever physical means necessary. And perhaps even just a year ago, Naruto may have gone ahead and done just that. But now, as the thought of how Mayu might look at him for it floated into his mind – feeling a tightening in his chest, he dismissed it. Even if it were at the cost of a mission, he didn't know if he could bear either of his teammates looking at him in that way ever again.

 _What's happened to me?_ , Naruto thought frustratedly to himself.

Meanwhile, as Sakura uncertainly took in their less-than-enthusiastic expressions, a male voice called out from another room, "Sakura? Who are they?"

"They're chūnin from Konoha," Sakura responded, and a few seconds later, a curious-looking blonde boy in a black t-shirt stepped out. He looked them over with a rather suspicious glint in his eyes, which only slightly cleared at the sight of their Leaf hitai-ate.

"How do you know for sure?" the boy asked cagily. "They could be Gatō's goons, for all we know." Without pause, he turned around, and cupping his hand around his mouth, he said, "Hey, Sasuke! Come here for a sec. You recognize any of them?"

Another boy, this time dark-haired, stepped out from the other room, and with an equally wary look in his eyes, he looked at Naruto and his teammates.

After a pause, he pointed a finger straight at Naruto. "That one. I remember him."

"Jeez, Menma," said Sakura, shaking her pink head exasperatedly. "He was in our class for a year. How could you forget?"

"Oh, was he?" The boy let out an easy laugh, raising a hand to his neck in embarrassment. "My bad."


	20. Foreboding Skies

_He plodded down the path, looking with some disbelief at the hand that was pulling him along. It was warm and felt nothing like anything else he'd ever held before, but it was...it was nice, he supposed._

" _What's wrong?" The girl stopped to look down at him, but the sun was high in the sky and shone too brightly down on them for him to make out her face._

" _N-nothing," he said quietly. "Where are we...we going?"_

_The word 'we' felt alien to him, and he had to say it twice to confirm to his brain that it was indeed, the word he was looking for._

" _You said you've never played hide-and-seek before, right?" she said, tucking a length of hair behind her ear. "I found a fun place to play it, and thought you might like it too!"_

" _Play?" he asked shyly. "I've never done that before...with, with someone else I mean."_

 _She laughed._ " _You're so weird! Who's never played with someone else before?"_

_When he didn't respond, her smile slowly faded from her face. An odd look flashed across her face. Her mouth began to open, and he squeezed his eyes shut, afraid that she'd say something awful and leave him there like everyone else, when suddenly, another voice called out to them._

" _What're you doing? And who's that?"_

_He opened his eyes and saw an older boy walking across the street towards them. He had a curious look on his tanned face._

" _This is the boy my mom's taking care of," said the girl, raising a hand in greeting. She gestured back to him with her other hand. "Come on, say hello."_

" _H-hello..." he murmured nervously._

" _Hold on, I know him..." said the boy, leaning right down to stare at his face. He shrunk back. "Yeah...he's the one Kayumo's mom told us to stay away from."_

" _Really? Why?"_

" _I dunno," the boy shrugged, crossing his arms behind his head. "She got mad at Kayumo for letting him join our game of tag."_

" _Why would she? He's just a kid like us." The girl smiled down at him again. "Right, Naruto?"_

* * *

Naruto's eyes flew open.

Faint motes of light was streaming through the half-open window and for a long minute, he looked up at the ceiling. A tattered string dangled from the lone light fixture, and as he watched, it swayed in an invisible breeze.

Only when his heartbeat had slowed down, did he get up; as Naruto got to his feet, the thin blanket he'd been sleeping under fell off, and at the soft sound, the others in the room began to stir.

Stretching his arms, he silently walked to the window and pushed it open the rest of the way. They had spent the night at Tazuna's seaside house, and from the window, Naruto could see the waves jostling gently against the dock. And just barely, he could hear the sound of seagulls.

The first time he'd visited the sea on one of his missions several months back, he had been taken aback at the high-pitched wailing sound. It sounded nothing like the birds around Konoha, and even more startlingly, it was accompanied by the underlying deep crashing noise of the waves as they pounded down on shore. But he'd quickly come to enjoy it: despite the cacophony of each separate sound, together, they melded together and somehow soothed him. Being near the sea was an experience completely alien to Naruto, having grown up in a landlocked village like Konoha, but somehow, it felt familiar to him, as if he were meeting an old friend.

As he stood there now, however, it had the opposite effect. The seagulls calling back and forth to each other sounded like a warning; it made him uneasy and restless. It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling that tingled almost unbearably across the surface of his skin.

 _We need to get out of here_ , he thought to himself.

Sakura's team leader Shirakumo, a stern-faced jōnin with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, had turned out to be recovering from a deep leg wound. However, it was healing well, and the jōnin would likely be able to move around freely with just a few more days of rest. With that out of the way, there was no real reason for them to stay behind in this country...and after the night's rest, Naruto's mind felt clearer. His worries about Mayu resenting him for ordering her back to Konoha seemed silly to him now; she was not so unreasonable as to completely ignore the voice of reason. Surely she would listen to him with just a little more prodding?

"Naruto?" called out a drowsed voice. He turned around to see Rai getting to his feet with half-lidded eyes, audibly cracking his neck. Sai was already up, and was leaning against the wall with his futon neatly folded beside him while Sasuke was just beginning to put away his. Next to them was Menma, who seemed to have made it halfway out of his futon before falling asleep again, snoozing lightly as a trickle of drool dribbled down across his chin.

As Naruto walked back across the wooden floor to fold his own futon, he suddenly wondered about the fleeting dream he had had. But even as he thought about it, like a receding tide, the details slipped further and further back from his memory, and after a while, he stopped thinking about it at all.

* * *

Tazuna's daughter, a willowy woman with a heart-shaped face named Tsunami, prepared breakfast with Sakura while Naruto and the other boys took their turns in the small washroom. Mayu had gone back to Kaine's home for the night; Kaine's head wound, while not overtly serious, was still affecting her, and they had agreed it would be better for at least one person to always be with her.

The breakfast, while predictably involving fish in almost every dish, was delicious, and it was at the breakfast table (two separate tables had to be pushed together to make enough room for all of them) that they met Tazuna's grandson Inari, who turned out to be a gloomy young boy in a dull green jumpsuit.

"Isn't he cute?" Tazuna said with a fond look down at the boy, who continued to mechanically spoon fish stew into his mouth. Sitting across the table, Naruto silently paralleled him.

"He said we're all going to die," said Menma sourly. Sakura nodded in indignant affirmation beside him.

"From what you guys were saying about Zabuza, it doesn't sound too far off," said Rai, as he picked at his plate (he hated fish). "How did you guys escape anyways?"

Menma pulled back in his chair with a proud look. "We didn't  _escape._  I almost got him, but some hunter-nin finished him off instead."

" _You_ almost got him? It was all sensei!" Sakura scoffed.

"And what held Zabuza in place for him?" Menma jabbed a finger at himself, leaving no room for question. "That's right,  _my_  Mind Transfer Jutsu."

"Oh is  _that_  what it was? I just thought he'd paused to scratch his butt."

"Nope, that was me. Butt scratch and all."

It was hard for Naruto to imagine anyone looking as proud as Menma did at that moment.

"Are they always like this?" Rai asked Sasuke, who grunted noncommittally into his stew.

Suddenly, there was a thumping sound as Inari forcibly put down his utensils. The scattered conversations around the table skidded to a stop, and sliding his chair back, Inari dropped to the floor.

Tazuna turned around in his chair. "Where are you going, Inari?"

"To look at the ocean from my room."

Tsunami wiped her hands on her apron. "What about the rest of your breakfast? You skipped dinner yesterday too."

"I'm full." Inari slid the door open and left. Menma and Sakura shared guilty glances while everyone else – except Sai, as usual – averted their gazes.

"I'm sorry," said Tazuna after a short silence. He took a heavy sip from his cup. "He's been like that since Kaiza died."

With the mood in the room having rapidly plummeted, the rest of the breakfast was quiet. To most everyone's relief, soon after breakfast had ended, Mayu and Kaine arrived. While Kaine and her estranged in-laws began to awkwardly exchange greetings, Naruto discretely pulled Mayu away from the bemused spectator crowd.

Sliding the door shut behind them, Naruto turned around to see Mayu looking a bit pale. She was playing with her hair again, as she always did when she was nervous. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, though her eyes darted to the closed door.

"You don't look well. Did something happen?" Naruto critically looked her up and down, but besides the pallor, she seemed fine.

"No, I'm fine," Mayu insisted. As if to prove her point, she let go of her hair and crossed her arms across her chest. "What'd you want to talk about?"

"Mayu – we're going to head back to Konoha today," said Naruto, thinking it'd be best to get straight to the point. Mayu's face fell, but ignoring this, he forged forward. "Sakura's team already dealt with the missing-nin that attacked, and now that Kaine is here with Tazuna and the others, Team Shirakumo can protect her too. There's no reason for us to be here."

"Kaine-san only agreed to come here because you guys were here," Mayu said quietly. "And they can't always be watching over everyone, they've got their hands full with Tazuna-san's family – "

"What do you plan to do, then? Protect Kaine for the rest of her life?" Naruto interrupted her. Taking a step closer to her, his voice dropped in volume. "Or are you going to kill Gatō?"

To her credit, even as her entire face reddened, Mayu did not take a step back, choosing instead to look firmly back at him. "What's the point of escorting someone to their village, only for them to be killed as soon as we leave them? I don't want to just follow the mission details to a T, collect the money, and go back home. I want to do it properly."

"And I want to do my duty as team leader properly," said Naruto, letting some of the frustration he felt seep into his voice. "You do realize you're putting us all in danger here?"

"We're - we're always in danger," Mayu said hesitantly.

"You're right. But you're asking to risk the lives of our teammates just so you can feel better about yourself," said Naruto harshly, and as soon as the words had left his mouth, he regretted them. Mayu flinched backwards and her gaze dropped to the floor. As the seconds silently ticked by, he rapidly searched through his experiences for words to alleviate the situation – and found nothing. Finally, he added lamely, "It's not like they don't have money. If Kaine-san really wanted better bodyguards, she could have paid for a higher-level mission."

When Mayu didn't respond, Naruto sighed.

 _That could have gone better,_  he thought to himself. Not wanting to look at Mayu's bowed head, he looked around the room instead, and almost immediately, his gaze landed on the sliding door. His eyes narrowed. He took a silent step forward – and in one quick motion, slid it open.

A streak of black flashed out of sight, leaving behind only one lone blonde figure standing awkwardly by the door.

"Ehe...he..." Menma laughed uncomfortably, his eyes rapidly flicking from Mayu's downcast figure to Naruto's blank face. "I was just - uh...looking for the bathroom. You wouldn't happen to know where it is?"

Deciding that confrontation wouldn't be worth the time, Naruto pointed a finger in the opposite direction. As he watched the boy scamper away, Naruto considered the streak of black he'd seen: obviously, someone else had been with Menma, and he was willing to bet his tantō that it'd been Rai. But why hadn't he come in and said something?

Several seconds passed as Naruto stood still in silent contemplation, and soon, from the other end of the hallway, a pink head popped out.

"Naruto?" Sakura sounded suspicious. "What're you doing? Everyone's waiting."

"Sorry," he said. Looking back at Mayu, he gestured toward her. "Come on."

Mayu mutely bobbed her head and followed him back to the room where everyone else (except Menma) was gathered. Some of the ice seemed to have been broken, though Kaine had made a point of sitting on the opposite side of the room from Tazuna.

Naruto caught Rai's gaze, but the other boy only flashed him a grin before returning to his apparently all-consuming task of flattening out the creases of his pants.

"How are you feeling, Kaine-san?" Sakura asked, as everyone settled into their cushions. "You look better than you did yesterday, but..."

Kaine slightly bowed her head. "It was a slight concussion. I just needed some bed rest. I'm fine now, thank you."

"Quite the luck she's got there," said Sai, a small smile playing at his lips. "Although judging by how they attacked, I don't think the assailants were trying to kill her."

"No...they were only warning me," Kaine said in an odd voice. Her eyes hardened as she looked around at the room's occupants, before coming to a rest on Naruto. "Now, getting to the matter of business today – Naruto, have you reached a decision as to your team's next action?"

Naruto paused, quickly looking at each of his teammates in turn. Sitting nearby, Sai looked neutrally back; farther away, Rai, with an unusually serious look on his face, looked down at the ground; and Mayu, on the opposite end of the room, looked straight at him with a creased brow.

"Before that, I'd like to hear what Team Shirakumo intends on doing," he said. With that, everyone looked at the jōnin, who was currently resting his splinted leg across two cushions.

As Shirakumo opened his mouth to speak, a conflicted expression quickly flitted across his face. "Three days ago, I sent a missive to the Hokage explaining the current situation, and requesting further orders. While I await his reply, we are on standby." Noticing Tazuna's downcast expression, he hastened to add, "Personally, I feel that it is our duty as ninja to deal with any immediate dangers that risk the safety of our client...however, the ultimate decision is in the hands of our village. That is the best I can offer you."

"That's already more than enough," Tazuna grunted.

"...what I don't understand is why you need our help," Sasuke suddenly spoke up, surprising Naruto. The Uchiha boy, while not exactly taciturn, had not struck him as the type to take initiative unless the situation absolutely called for it.

Kaine turned coolly towards him. "What do you mean?"

"You clearly have at least some money, as you've been funding the bridge's construction. Why rely on us, instead of properly hiring ninja to deal with the matters here? Or are your pockets not deep enough?"

Kaine opened her mouth, and then closed it. Her hesitation was painfully obvious. However –

"In gratitude for saving my life, I do owe you all some answers," she said slowly. "And even if you cannot help us, I have confidence...or hope, that you will not turn on us." Kaine closed her eyes. "The Wave country's daimyō is in Gatō's hands. We cannot raise any form of direct rebellion against Gatō, and hiring any ninja above chūnin level would be received as such."

At her words, Tazuna's face went taut with surprise.

"What do you mean 'in Gatō's hands'? Is he being kept physically captive?" Naruto asked, intrigued against his will.

"From what we know of our last reports, the daimyō and his immediate family are all being kept in house arrest inside their main residence," Kaine confirmed.

"And you can't just assassinate Gatō?" Rai piped up, looking confused.

"Oh we've tried," said Kaine bitterly. "But the assassination attempt failed, and Gatō killed Lady Awa - the daimyō's wife - in retaliation. The daimyō then made a public renunciation, labeling the actions of any who dared to defy Gatō as mutiny."

"Who is this 'we' you're talking about?" Sasuke pressed, and then looked meaningfully at Tazuna, who seemed to now be making a passable imitation of a guppy. "It can't be the bridge builders."

"Just a group of the last couple of stragglers with a backbone left in this country," said Kaine with a venomous look.

Rai scratched his chin. "But you haven't tried again since your first failure? Don't you think you gave up too soon?"

Kaine shook her head. "You don't understand. Why do you think I was in Konoha? Why do you think I've been traveling around the nations?"

"...to sell things?"

"I've been arranging meetings with the Kage of various hidden villages with the aim of making an alliance between theirs and Wave country. But almost every nation has turned me down...including Fire country."

"Really?" Sakura looked perplexed. "But wouldn't an alliance benefit us? It'd bring more trade into our country."

"Not necessarily..." said Shirakumo gravely, his arms crossed across his chest. Until now, he had remained silent with a neutral expression fixed on his face, but it seemed he had reached some sort of decision. "As it stands now, Gatō's shipping ventures benefit all of the neighboring countries. There are no tariffs or regulations in place along the coastline, making it an excellent waypoint for maritime trade with farther and wealthier nations such as Water and Tea country...and Gatō is making this possible by taking the money directly out of the citizens' taxes."

"Yes, Gatō knows what he's doing." Kaine nodded. "He's a parasite, and so long as his actions don't harm the other nations, nobody will lift a finger – because ultimately, Wave country was never powerful or unified to begin with. If Gatō were removed from power, there would be an economic vacuum...the few markets that exist would fall into chaos, and none of the other nations want to risk that. The only nation that would pay attention to my proposals was Lightning country, and their condition was that they be granted complete control over Wave country's economy."

"And what did you say in response?" Naruto asked.

Kaine gave him a thin smile. "That I did not have the authority to make such a decision."

Despite himself, Naruto felt respect for the sharp-tongued woman burgeon inside him. She was clearly doing everything within her power – and beyond – for the sake of a country that she hadn't even been born to. For a moment, he wondered if it was revenge for her brother that pushed her, but immediately dismissed it. If retribution had been her sole aim, Kaine would have arranged for Gatō's assassination, damn all the consequences. Instead, she was clearly thinking for the benefit of the nation rather than her own gratification, even at the risk of her own life.

However, no matter how pretty her goals were, in the end, they weren't his business – nor was he interested in making them his.

Tsunami was refilling everyone's teacups, and as he politely declined his cup, Naruto looked directly at Mayu. Surely she would understand? They were  _ninjas_. They weren't heroes. At his pointed stare, Mayu turned pink, and she opened her mouth – when with a loud bang, the door slid open to reveal a blonde figure.

"Menma! Where've you been?" Sakura asked in a scolding tone as she got to her feet.

Ignoring her, Menma brandished a sealed scroll in his hand. "I've got it - the Hokage's response to Shirakumo-sensei's missive. A messenger jōnin found me at the docks."

Immediately, Shirakumo raised his hand, and Menma handed it to him. With bated breaths, everyone watched as he unfurled the scroll. For several minutes, it was quiet; Naruto closely observed Shirakumo's face as his eyes rapidly moved across the scroll paper, but as expected of the jōnin, his expression gave nothing away.

When Shirakumo finally spoke, however, the note of disbelief in his voice was clear. "My team and any other Leaf teams in the vicinity have been ordered by the Hokage to remain in Wave country and to do whatever is necessary to guarantee the safety of our clients," he said slowly, and Naruto felt his eyes widen. The uneasy buzzing tension was back, sending alarms ringing in his head. Looking up from the scroll, Shirakumo locked gazes with him. "The Hokage's seal is on it."

"So?" Kaine said softly. "What will your team be doing, Naruto?"

* * *

"Look, I've really gotta make my next delivery," said the tokubetsu jōnin, scowling back at Kakashi.

While messenger birds were commonly used within the village walls and on occasion by mobilized teams to send messages back to the village, tokubetsu jōnin specializing as messengers were used to deliver important and direct missives from the Hokage to teams stationed in faraway regions. Kakashi had spotted the messenger slipping away from the house that Naruto and the others were currently in, and feeling in his gut that something was off, immediately pounced on him in the neighboring forest.

"What was that message you delivered?" Kakashi pressed, shoving the jōnin more roughly against the tree.

"I told you, I don't know. I'm just the messenger!" the jōnin protested, putting his hands up. Kakashi noticed that he was young, for a messenger jōnin. He didn't recall seeing him around the village either, but that was becoming more and more common these days, as he spent so much time outside the village walls on extended missions. "It was from the Hokage!"

"That's funny," said Kakashi, with a look that suggested he found it anything but. "I just exchanged messages with him several days ago. You'd think he'd tell me about such a thing."

The jōnin shrugged. "Kages' minds work differently from ours. Mere ninja like us can't hope to understand them," he said sagely. "And anyways, the Hokage's seal was on it."

Kakashi paused. "Did you receive it directly from the Hokage himself?"

"No, I picked it up in Water country at the waypoint," said the jōnin, still struggling to free himself. "Look, I'm behind in my deliveries as it is and I kinda wanna get back home by the end of this week..."

Reaching a decision, Kakashi let him go, and the jōnin straightened. Muttering darkly to himself, the jōnin stretched back his shoulders before leaping nimbly away and disappearing from sight.

He didn't like this – why would the Hokage send a separate message to Naruto and the others, while neglecting to tell  _him_? And why send it all the way to Water country first, instead of sending a direct messenger? Sure, there were many more messengers going between Water and Fire countries, but still – either the Hokage was up to something, or...

It was extremely unlikely, but even the Hokage's seal could be faked by a powerful fūinjutsu master.

Now, Kakashi found himself with a dilemma. He had to know what that message had said – but at the same time, he couldn't get any closer to the house, or he would be detected. And if it turned out to really be from the Hokage, then he'd have effectively failed his own mission of observing Naruto from afar for nothing.

Uncomfortably, Kakashi folded his arms across his chest. He'd give it a day to see what happened. Knowing Naruto, he and the rest of the team would be leaving Wave country soon and heading back to Konoha. In fact, he was surprised they'd stayed as long as they had. Wanting to avoid running into them on their way back, Kakashi had stayed along the borders of the country until nightfall – and then found, to his surprise, that they had decided to spend the night.

However, Naruto was the practical type, and Kakashi fully expected the boy to try and go back to Konoha as soon as possible. But of course now, the Hokage's missive changed things, and Kakashi felt himself growing worried. He wondered if it was just his nerves as team leader, and being unable to actually do anything. Regardless, if Naruto and the others didn't start going back home soon, or if they started acting strangely on the way back – if things came to it, he'd make a new decision then. Kakashi supposed that if he found himself cornered, he could find a way to get Shirakumo alone and have a talk with the other jōnin.

But for now, as promised, he would keep watching.

* * *

It was only after the inn's okami threatened to have a restraining order placed on him that, with great reluctance, Jiraiya the legendary Sannin, the great Toad Sage, and bestselling author of the hugely popular  _Icha Icha_  series removed himself from its premises.

It wasn't that he was afraid of the local police – not by a long shot – but if his dashing mug were to be plastered on posters all around the nation's bathhouses, his research would sadly come to a screeching halt, and then what would he say to his adoring fans?

Hitting the road again, Jiraiya tactfully thought to make himself scarce from that area (for a few months) and mulling over his well-worn map, decided to head north to Snow country. He'd heard that the women there had the most beautiful pearly white skin, and that the hot springs there were medicinal...and indeed, Jiraiya thought that he deserved some time spent healing, with the heartache he now nursed at the thought of his self-imposed banishment from his own country.

Instead of heading directly by a land route, which would lead him on a cumbersome path straight through the borders of several nations, Jiraiya decided to board a ship, as a sea route would both be faster, and make for a nice change in pace. In fact, for the next installment of  _Icha Icha,_ he had been thinking of having his main character engage in a whirlwind romance at sea with the beautiful maiden daughter of a ship's captain (which would of course have to end tragically so that he could write a sequel).

The journey was cut short however as it seemed that, despite the thick fog surrounding the Land of Waves, most ships stopped at its main port city to refuel, as well as to load and unload goods.

Hearing from the captain (who, to Jiraiya's great disappointment, had never married nor fathered any daughters) that the ship would be docked for several hours, he went ashore with the intention of stretching his land legs. And for the first time in many years, he found himself speechless with shock.

Jiraiya had been walking past a row of disheveled buildings near the port's center, when he saw what looked like a small child crawling on the ground. His lower body was covered by a black rubber tarp and it was only after Jiraiya gave the boy a second glance that he realized that the boy didn't have any legs. The child's face was bony and drawn, and the only signs of life were his hands, which relentlessly slapped down on the ground before him and pushed his body up just a few inches at a time.

"Where are you going, child?" Jiraiya asked softly, kneeling beside him. However, the boy didn't seem to hear him; instead, silently, he kept pushing himself forward.

"If he makes it to the other side of the city by tonight, he'll get fed," said a young girl, who'd been poking lethargically at the ground with a stick.

Jiraiya paused. "Fed? By who?"

"People who think it's funny," said the girl with a shrug.

Something hard clenched in Jiraiya's stomach, and he got up. He looked around, and as if seeing for the first time, finally noticed the hard gazes of the passing people and the listless children gathered at every corner.

Jiraiya had heard the rumors, of course, about how a man named Gatō had managed to get his claws on a small island nation and sucked the very life out of its people. At the time, he'd merely thought that it wasn't any of his business and had passed it over. But hearing was not the same as seeing, and the mild discomfort he had felt then now turned into full-blown sorrow.

It had been a long time since he had seen people brought down to such low levels. It had been bad in Konoha for a while following the Nine-Tails' attack, but nowhere near what he saw here. No, the last time Jiraiya had seen such a bleak setting had been during the Second Shinobi World War, when orphans on war-torn battlefields had been like particles of sand on a beach.

When he returned to the dock, his mind was a storm of roiling thoughts, but one made itself the clear winner.

"We're leaving in ten minutes, you'd better return to your cabin," said the captain, leaning over the railing of the ship.

Jiraiya rummaged in his pocket, and finding a coin, he flipped it up to the man, who caught it with an adept grab.

"I'll be staying here for just a bit longer," he called up to him. "You can keep the change."

Waving his hand, letting the captain's farewell wash over him ("Hold on a - hey, come back here! This isn't the full fare!"), Jiraiya began to head for the nearest bar, where he would hopefully be able to pry from the loose lips of a drunken sailor the full story of the country's current sorry state of affairs.

* * *

The sun was low in the sky when they reached the dock; the fog for once was gone, leaving behind a gradient of purple to orange that then dissolved into murky water. There were only two boats there: one was a battered-looking fishing boat that had likely seen much better days. The other was a cargo ship, with black steam belching obnoxiously from a smokestack – it was on this ship that they'd be getting on.

Before boarding, Naruto and the others exchanged farewells with their benefactor.

"I appreciated your escorting me here," Kaine said with a gracious smile, dabbing at something in her eyes with her sleeve. "I'll never forget you all...and I hope you won't forget me, either."

"Oh we will," Sai promised pleasantly.

Mayu smiled tremulously. "Goodbye Kaine-san..."

"You have to be brave, Mayu," said Rai, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know..."

"Well let's get going then," said Naruto a tad impatiently.

With a final wave, Naruto and the others boarded the ship, which they found themselves fortunate to have caught. It would have been tough to find one leaving Wave country on such short notice, but with Kaine backing them, money had exchanged hands and the ship's captain had agreed to make a short detour back to Fire country.

"You kids are ninja?" The captain, a gruff-looking man with a thick black mustache, eyed their hitai-ate suspiciously. "Awfully young, aren't you?"

"Actually, our growths got stunted by our training. We're probably around your age...assuming you're sixty or so." The captain couldn't have been a day over fifty, but with his usual placid smile, Sai displayed his remarkable aptitude for lying through his teeth. Naruto privately thought to himself that the boy could probably do quite well for himself in the chūnin betting games.

"We appreciate you going out of your way to take us back to our country," said Mayu earnestly.

Leaning over the side of his ship, the captain spat out a wad of something black and slimy into the ocean, giving Naruto an unwelcome inkling of what the murk in the water could be. "Before that though, we'll be making a pit stop at a port town farther up north."

"That'll be just fine," said Naruto. "Now, if you'll excuse us...we'll be resting in our cabin."

"We're tired and we have our own food, so unless the ship catches on fire or something, you don't have to bother with us," Rai added helpfully.

"Your own food, eh? Well I'm not complaining," said the captain. Then with a grunt of dismissal, he turned around to shout something at a passing crewmember.

Naruto and the rest of his team slipped into their cabin, where for about an hour, they rested on rotting bunk beds that creaked with every slosh of a wave against the ship's hull. When they felt the ship still and footsteps increased in volume around them, they each removed their hitai-ate and pulled on a nondescript cloak. Making sure that their faces were hidden below the hoods, they crept out onto the boat's deck one by one, being careful to mingle with the small crowd of people who were getting off the ship. It had grown dark and damp, and their cloaked figures did not stand out from the others, who were similarly dressed.

Just as Naruto stepped foot on the gangplank, however –

"Hey, you lot!" A crewmember hollered down at them, and they froze, wondering if they'd been caught.

"Yes?" Mayu asked, shuffling around. The man – or rather, boy – looked down at them imperiously through beady eyes, and in that split second, Naruto began to reach for the kunai strapped to his thigh.

But then, the boy's expression caved in, and leaning forward, he lowered his voice. "It's my turn to peel the potatoes so I can't go on land but...get me something I can chew on for a bit? I'm feeling queasy. Here...I'll even give you a coin for it."

He flipped something toward them that glinted under the dim dock lights as it spun, and with a practiced hand, Rai grabbed it smoothly out of the air.

"Of course," Rai answered, looking down at the coin, and then back up at the boy with a predator-like smile.

"I owe you," said the boy gratefully with a queasy smile. However, as soon as the boy had disappeared from sight, Rai pocketed the coin with a whistle.

"Rai!" Mayu hissed.

"What?" Rai said defensively. "He had to learn his lesson sooner or later."

As they exchanged small talk, the four casually separated from the rest of the group, and once Mayu had indicated that the coast was clear, they slipped down the wall to the river that spanned the town. The darkness of the night and the shadows of the overhanging bridges and walls hid them; directing their chakra to their feet, they began to run across the water's surface as silently as they could.

Only when they had left behind the last building of the port city, did Naruto allow himself to even slightly relax.

"Think that was good enough?" Rai muttered. Naruto glanced around, straining to extend his senses as far as he could. They were now in marshland, and with the moon almost completely blocked out by clouds that evening, even their trained eyes found it hard to make out anything in the horizon.

"The most obvious presences are gone now...but to be sure, I'll keep the clones around for as long as I can," he said quietly.

It had been Kaine's idea.

While they hadn't exactly announced themselves to Wave country, Naruto and his team hadn't bothered to hide their presence or their identities. That was the point of their hitai-ate after all, to identify them as ninja of their villages. Anyone who dared to trifle with someone wearing the Leaf hitai-ate would be responded to in kind by the full might of Konoha, and Konoha was one of the most powerful hidden villages.

However, Kaine had suggested that Naruto and his team should pretend to leave Wave country, so that her and Tazuna's enemies would relax their guard and underestimate them. Shirakumo had liked the plan, agreeing that eight Leaf nin gathered in one place was too obvious of a confrontation and would likely provoke unwanted attention.

Giving Shirakumo his due respect as the most senior ninja in the vicinity, Naruto had bowed to his suggestion. His shadow clones, disguised as each member of his team, were still in the ship's cabin while he and his real team were to return under cover of darkness to Tazuna's town. They would have to lie low for a while of course, but the gnawing sense that he was being constantly watched had disappeared, and Naruto suspected their plan had went off without a hitch.

As Naruto continued to run in the deep darkness, his thoughts turned to the clones he'd left behind on the ship. He'd told the others – mostly for Sai's sake – that he would dismiss them as soon as the ship reached Fire country, but it'd been partially a lie.

Everything about the Hokage's 'missive' had seemed fishy to him, and it hadn't been the fish stew. Why had the messenger given the message to Menma, instead of Shirakumo, for whom it had been intended? Normally, messengers were under strict orders to deliver their message to a specific recipient, and depending on the importance of the message, had to go through several stringent procedures to verify the recipient's identity. And even if the message really had been from the Hokage, why were they being told to stay in Wave country, effectively interfering with the affairs of another nation?

At least another dozen questions raged inside his mind, but Naruto suppressed them. One of his clones had left the ship with them at the pit stop, and would make his way back to Konoha. Once there, he'd be able to get a direct explanation from the Hokage about what was going on. Until then, he would obey the Hokage's mandate. And while he didn't like it, he would go along with Kaine's fantasies of freedom and Mayu's illusions of playing hero.

At the moment, Naruto couldn't see his teammates, but he could sense them running beside him, and he felt something hard clench in his stomach. It was dangerous out here in Wave country...and he'd do whatever it took to protect his team.

_Whatever it took._

But suddenly – his eyes widened and Naruto came to a screeching stop, as with zero warning – almost as if slamming headfirst into an invisible wall – he felt a horrifyingly familiar aura of cold blood lust surge up out of seemingly nowhere. A cry of alarm rising belatedly to his lips, he immediately fell into a defensive stance. Hearing Rai swear beside him, he felt the others do the same.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" A gloating man's voice rung out from the darkness several meters in front of them. "New heathens to offer up for divine judgment, that's what."

"Shut up and do your job, newbie."

"Stop calling me a newbie!"


	21. Earth-Shaking Matter

" _You must be Nine Tails."_

" _What do you want?" came the rumbling reply._

" _Lend me your chakra," said Naruto. "Otherwise, we'll both die."_

 _The claws that had been futilely swiping at Naruto from between the bars froze in midair – and then without any warning, the being behind the gates burst into a deep and rasping laugh that, as it resounded across the brackish water, raised the hairs on the back of his neck._ " _True, if you get killed here, that'd be inconvenient for me...You've got guts, if anything. Very well then. Here is a gift for coming this far!"_

* * *

"Man, I'm sick and tired of this stupid patrol duty," said the man, making a spitting sound.

Naruto felt his eyes narrow; the roiling bloodlust he was exuding was even stronger than Naruto could remember it being just two years ago in Yugakure. It could have felt that way due to the sheer vastness and emptiness of their surroundings, but nevertheless, if it had been a single storm cloud before, it was now a tempest.

"You think I want to be here wasting my time?" replied another man's gravelly voice.

"Who are you? Name - name your purpose!" Naruto heard Mayu speak up bravely beside him, and he realized she must not have recognized the man.

"We're not supposed to let ninja in this area," said the man he had identified as Hidan, ignoring the first part of her question. "So we're going to kill you. Or actually - Kakuzu, how about you stay out of this and let me have some fun?"

Naruto slowly began to reach for the tantō strapped to his back, thankful for the darkness. It seemed that Hidan had not recognized them either...but what could he mean by 'not supposed to?' And who was the other ninja – Hidan had called him Kakuzu – with him?

"From the sounds of their voices, I doubt any of them would even fetch a price at the bounty office," grunted Kakuzu, sounding wholly dissatisfied.

Rai let out a nervous laugh. "Whoa, whoa, ease up man. Let's not be too hasty. Don't you know who we are?"

"Hah?"

"The boss told us to rendezvous with you guys here," Rai continued, his voice remarkably smooth. "Well - he did mean you guys, right?"

This seemed to give Hidan actual pause; for a split second, as if a dog had just caught the scent of something other than its prey, the thick bloodlust wavered.

And in that same instant, Naruto formed the clone seal –

" _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ (Shadow Clone Technique)! _"_

Accompanied by the sounds of exploding smoke, ten physical copies of Naruto solidified into existence, each one bearing a readied tantō in hand.

"Go," he said, and his clones burst forward in the direction where he sensed Hidan and Kakuzu. In response, as they'd practiced, he heard the high-pitched warbling of blue birds as they freed themselves from Mayu's hair and the telltale rustling of paper as Sai drew out his scrolls.

"4 o'clock, Rai!" Mayu cried out, and from Rai's direction came the sound of hissing, and then the whistling sound of deadly metal flying through air, followed up by a string of explosions. Slightly averting his eyes from the brief orange glows of the blasts, Naruto saw on the floor ink black snakes wriggling straight into the resultant smoke.

In theory, it was a simple tactic: using his clones to first surround and herd the enemy, Mayu would use her blue birds to confuse them – and in the case where they didn't have any visual information on their targets, to gain intel on their whereabouts. Rai would follow-up with exploding tags to further confuse them and in the resultant disorder, Sai would bind them with his ink snakes. Then – in theory – Naruto and Rai could go in and finish off whoever was left.

He blinked, processing the newly-gained memory of one of his clones who had just been destroyed; in the fleeting glimpse the clone had gotten from the light of the exploding tags, neither Hidan nor the other man seemed particularly perturbed by the commotion they had just set off. However, Naruto had never expected it to.

"Now!" Naruto said. As the others disappeared using the  _shunshin_ , he dashed toward the cloud of smoke with his tantō raised in his hand. In the passing split seconds as he approached its center, his remaining clones began to leap out of the smoke, their tantō at the ready. Naruto's brow furrowed as he urged a current of lightning chakra – now almost as second nature to him as his wind chakra had been – to run through his body – and then simultaneously, he and his clones thrust their tantō into the boggy ground below.

Blue and pure white sparks lit up the watery surface, as with a crackling sound, the earth broke into pieces, consuming anything still remaining on its surface. Naruto's clones exploded in sequential clouds of smoke – but Naruto himself had long since flashed away.

The night clouds had momentarily drawn back, allowing through a few stray rays of moonlight to light his way. Touching back down and running as fast as he could in the direction they'd been headed, Naruto soon caught up to the rest of his team. With chakra powering their feet, they were running in spearhead formation with Mayu at its head.

"How much of a lead do we have?" Rai hissed, as Naruto quietly drew beside him.

Naruto drew another tantō from his back. "Not much," he said shortly. "The moon's back out, and it'll be hard to lose them in open space. Where are we headed?"

"My birds tell me there's a forest about three kilometers ahead of here," said Mayu, casting an anxious eye back. Lifting his head, Naruto looked straight forward – but even with some of his vision restored, most of the horizon was still a haze of dark outlines and blackness. "But...why are they even chasing us?"

"I'm not sure," Naruto admitted. Hidan hadn't seemed to have recognized them even after their exchange, so it couldn't be some twisted form of vengeance. And it didn't seem to be out of malicious boredom either – he and his partner had some sort of ulterior motive in mind.

"Maybe they've given up," said Rai in a hopeful tone. But even before he'd finished talking, all four of them stiffened as a voice howled from behind them –

"And where the hell do you think you're going?!"

They fell silent, straining their ears as if they would be able to hear the approaching footsteps of their pursuers. The wind was blowing in their faces, and Naruto thought grimly of how it must be carrying their scents back.

"We'll be killed if we only run like this," said Sai matter-of-factly, sounding as serious as Naruto had ever heard him.

"And killed if we fight them head-on," Rai muttered. "We need another diversion – a better one. Until we can reach the forest."

"I - I can try staving them off with my birds," said Mayu.

"No," said Rai immediately in a brusque voice. "They'd break you as soon as they were upon you. Mayu, that's the guy who took on Kakashi-sensei back in Yugakure and survived...and this time, he's got a buddy with him."

Mayu's control over her blue birds worked best when she was physically near them; while they could instantaneously process information over a distance of up to five kilometers, actually channeling her genjutsu through them was only possible when she was within a radius of a hundred feet of them.

The others had all turned to Naruto for his orders. As his thoughts raced over their options, he felt his pulse rate begin to pick up.

If they continued to simply flee toward the forest, Hidan and Kakuzu would catch up before then. But at the same time, Naruto couldn't ask any one of them to stay behind in order to distract the two to make time for the others – that would essentially be condemning them to death. But what other choices were left to him then?  _Should_  they try fighting head-on with Hidan and his partner, despite not knowing the extent of their combative abilities?

Naruto glanced at Mayu and Rai's pale but determined faces, and felt his throat go dry.

"Well, Naruto?" Rai prompted him.

"This is what we're going to do," he said at last.

* * *

The Wet Dog was one of the better-known taverns along the pier, with the best sake found anywhere along the coastline – or so the drunk sailor that Jiraiya had interrogated claimed, anyways. And so, he found himself sitting down behind the countertop, swirling warmed sake around in a cup while keeping an eye out in the crowd for anyone who looked like they could be by themselves.

Soon enough, with a scraping sound, a flushed-looking man dressed in the telltale (and rather threadbare) cotton coat of a fisherman settled into the wooden chair beside him. Flagging the barman down with a finger, the man let out a loud hiccup. His unfocused eyes traveled across the bottles and flasks of sake behind the counter, before moving on to his neighbors. When Jiraiya felt the drunk man's eyes on him, he looked down at his cup, before taking a sip from it.

"You a foreigner?" The fisherman slurred, leaning his face haphazardly against his hand.

"Mhm."

"Where from? Fire -  _hic_  - country, by the looks of it."

Jiraiya made a noncommittal sound, and put his cup down on the countertop. "How about you?"

"Born and raised in Wave," the fisherman hiccuped.

"You fish for a living?"

"Among other things..." The barman had brought him a small plate of fried seaweed and octopus, and he began to chew at it, making an audible crunching sound even over the din of the tavern.

"Other things?" Jiraiya repeated.

 _Crunch_. "Can't survive -  _hic_ \- here no more doing just one thing."

"Economy not doing well?"

"Yeah, this place's gone to the dogs... _crunch..._ market might as well be non-existent...lucky to get 100 ryō for an entire shipment of fish, even."

Jiraiya let out a whistle. "For an entire shipment? Sounds rough."

"Tell me about it," the fisherman let out a grunt, bobbing his head. "If I had anywhere else to go -  _hic_  - I certainly wouldn't still be here."

Jiraiya traced the rim of his cup with a finger. "Still, you sound like you're doing rather well for yourself."

"Well...I pay my dues, yea? That's the secret to survival around here...if you know what I mean." As drunk as he was, the fisherman had lowered his voice with a furtive look around, but the barman was serving another customer at the other end of the counter.

"Huh," said Jiraiya, injecting as much admiration as he could into the single syllable.

"The thing is -  _hic -_ everyone knows the daimyō ain't in control no more, yeah? It's the gangs who run the place now. It's all about staying on their good side..." The fisherman broke off to noisily pop another octopus leg into his mouth, and as Jiraiya waited for him to continue, he watched as it was crushed into bits between the man's yellowed teeth. "You don't get in their way -  _crunch_  - and you give 'em what they want...and they'll leave you alone long enough to scrape enough ryō together to buy a night's stay in bed and some sake for your belly..." The man broke into a raucous laugh, and patted his stomach. Jiraiya followed with a rumbling laugh, holding his sake cup to the other man's face.

"You seem like a sensible sort of man...say, you wouldn't happen to know, would you? If I wished to invite some fairer company into my bed without fearing for my neck around here..."

The fisherman immediately placed a knowing hand on Jiraiya's shoulder, having recognized a brother in need. "You need speak no further, my good man. You'll be glad to know that with just one word, you'll be guaranteed a restful night anywhere around here."

"Oh? And what's that?"

The man grinned, his teeth gleaming in the sickly light. "Akatsuki _._ "

Immediately, Jiraiya had to stop himself from reacting to the name, giving the fisherman only a small nod of acknowledgement. With forcibly stilled hands, he raised the sake cup to his mouth, draining the rest of it.

_Akatsuki!_

The criminal organization that Jiraiya had devoted so many years of his life to researching – the organization that Orochimaru had joined after defecting from Konoha – could they truly be operating  _here?_  In Wave country?

Whatever the case, one thing was certain: his decision to stay behind in Wave country had been the right thing to do. Something big involving Akatsuki was about to go down, and there was a good chance it had everything to do with the current fiasco with Gatō. Jiraiya hadn't been sure what he would do after discerning the cause behind the country's ruination – there was a limit to even what he could do – but now that he knew the Akatsuki had a hand in this place, he knew he had to do  _something_ , even if that 'something' only involved further intelligence-gathering. That was what he had been doing all these years, after all, even going so far as to let down the Third's hopes of him taking up the mantle of Hokage. But in as much as it had been his determination to retrieve Orochimaru, it had also been for his home, Konoha.

Because no matter how many years it had been since he'd actually been there, when it came down to it, Jiraiya would never let down Konoha, even at the cost of his life.

* * *

"A-are you sure about this, Naruto?" Mayu asked uneasily, as she took off her cloak. "You do know that if they don't fall for it – "

"We'll be sitting ducks. I know." Naruto took off his cloak, and immediately, he felt goosebumps rising on his arms as the harsh wind bit into them.

"To be fair, that Hidan guy doesn't seem to be the brightest bulb in the box," said Rai, his own cloak already tucked under his arm. "His partner gave me some bad vibes though...what was his name again? Kakasu?"

"Kakuzu," Sai answered, and the others turned to him. "He's an S-rank missing-nin from Takigakure."

"How do you know that?" Rai asked, looking rather taken aback.

"He's been listed in the Bingo Book for quite some time now."

Rai opened his mouth to question him further – as it were mostly jōnin and ANBU who held bingo books – but Naruto held up a hand. "Enough. Later. Focus on the mission at hand now. Are you all ready?" He looked at each of his teammates in turn, and with focus refilling their expressions, they nodded. With a nod back, he brought his hands together in the clone seal – " _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_ "

With puffs of identical clouds of smoke, a dozen Narutos fell into place on the ground beside them, matching their punishing pace. Naruto – the real one – flung his cloak at the pair nearest him, and one immediately tugged the hood over himself. At the same time, Mayu and the others also threw their cloaks at a pair of clones, until there were four clones wearing each of their cloaks.

With every cloaked clone paired with one without, all twelve of his clones shot off into slightly different directions – but headed ultimately for the forest.

"See you two soon," Rai muttered, before turning sharply on his heel and heading east,away from the forest. Sai – with a reluctant glance back at Naruto – quickly followed suit.

"Stay safe," Mayu whispered back, her voice shaking like a leaf in the wind. Naruto heard her step into place beside him as they ran in the opposite direction, west.

The forest was large; even though they weren't headed directly for it, the black mass of trees grew rapidly bigger and bigger as they closed the distance. Without their cloaks, the chilly night wind struck harshly into their faces as they raced along the marsh, the cold bog water seeping into their sandals.

Naruto looked back, but there appeared to be nothing there beside the long stretch of marshland they had just crossed. The bloodlust too had faded, leaving behind just the beating of his heart in his chest, and the shallow breathing of Mayu running next to him.

"Have your birds found them?" he asked Mayu, who brought her hands together to make the bird seal.

"They can't get near without being detected, but it looks like Hidan is headed straight for the forest," she said, her voice tinged with relief.

"And Kakuzu?"

"None of them see him."

"Alright. Keep the bird on Hidan, but make sure it's not detected, and keep the other birds searching for Kakuzu. Have Rai and Sai reached the end of the forest yet?"

"They've just reached the other end," Mayu confirmed. "They'll be out of range soon."

"Good, keep your birds with them for as long as you – " Naruto broke off and his eyes widened. Without even enough time to shout, he raised up his tantō to protect himself.

With a grunt, Naruto had just barely managed to raise it in time before a powerful kick slammed into the flat side of his blade, sending him flying backward. Still struggling to hold his tantō in front of him, Naruto dug the heels of his sandals into the ground and felt the wet earth wedging alongside his soles from the sheer force behind the kick. Finally, he came to a stop, his legs covered with cold slabs of mud.

"What happened?" he heard Mayu gasp.

The dark figure that had attacked him out of seemingly nowhere hadn't followed him, choosing instead to cross his arms and regard Naruto with an almost leisurely interest.

"Hm...you're quite fast on your feet," said a deep voice; it was the one who had been with Hidan, the one named Kakuzu. It was still too dark to make out his features; all Naruto could make out in the dim light was a dark, bulky outline.

"How did you find us so quickly?" Naruto asked, his heart pounding in his ears.

"I commend you for thinking of using the wind in your favor as quickly as you did. I'll admit, I was fooled at first, thinking the four of you had split and headed separately for the forest. In fact, I'm pretty sure my idiot of a partner is even now still headed for the forest. But unfortunately for you two...I'm not him." With that, Kakuzu suddenly shot forward, heading straight toward them – but this time, Naruto was ready.

He held his hand out before him, urging his chakra together. Rapidly, streams of blue light began to encircle his palm, swirling faster and faster until it had formed a tight ball.

Digging his heels into the earth, Naruto sent lightning chakra into his feet, igniting his nerves – and with an explosive sound, he too kicked off, raising his hand into the air to meet Kakuzu.

* * *

"So you're a ninja, big guy?" The girl he had fondly nicknamed 'grapefruit-breasts' slapped lightly at his knee, rubbing her namesake against his arms. She was dressed in a chinese-style qipao dress that was slit dangerously high up along her thigh.

"Gwahahaha! I'm not  _just_  a ninja," Jiraiya let out a loud laugh, his face flushed red with sake. "I'm one of the legendary Sannin – they call me Jiraiya the great Toad Sage!"

"Wow, a Sannin," gushed the identically-dressed blonde girl on his other side, who he'd tenderly nicknamed 'bubble butt.' She paused, tapping a manicured nail against her plump lips. "What's that again, Fukumi?"

"Gosh Fukuyu, don't you know? It's like - like - you know, that communist guy."

"Stalin?" said bubble butt dubiously.

Jiraiya had no idea what they were talking about.

 _Women,_  he thought affectionately.

Following the advice of the fisherman he'd met at The Wet Dog, Jiraiya had soon managed to find himself in the shadowy region of the harbor city, where he'd been welcomed with open arms into the private room of a slightly more trashed bar. Guzzling down fried squid and vats of sake with a beautiful woman on each arm, Jiraiya was having a hard time remembering what he'd been so serious about just hours ago.

"So what're you here in Wave country for?" Grapefruit-breasts had returned her attention to Jiraiya, and was now lazily stroking his chest with her long nails.

"What else but to meet you ladies?" Jiraiya said as smoothly as possible – an effect that was slightly ruined by his missing his mouth with his cup, spilling some sake on his shoulder instead.

"Oh, you're so silly!" Bubble butt giggled. "Let me guess - you're on some super top-secret ninja mission, aren't you?"

"I can't say," Jiraiya said regretfully, closing his eyes in sorrow. "If I did tell you, I'd have to kill you. And if you two ladies were gone from this world, what meaning would be left to living?"

The two women burst into high-pitched giggling, clutching at his arms.

"You can tell us! None of us will remember in the morning, anyways," Grapefruit-breasts said in a sing-song voice, this time rubbing her breasts along the nape of Jiraiya's neck.

"Not after what we plan on doing with you, anyways..." Bubble butt breathed into his ear, her breath coming out hotly against his skin.

At her words, Jiraiya's eyes widened and he fell into a fit of coughing. When he'd finally regained his breath, he wheezed, "So - where were we?"

"But first - what's the magic word?" Grapefruit-breasts jumped up on his back playfully and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"The magic word?" He blinked.

Bubble butt wrapped her arms around his arm possessively. "You know...the word you have to say to get anywhere here."

"Wahaha! Oh, that one!" he said, thinking back to the fisherman with bad teeth.

Grapefruit-breasts' cold fingers caressed his face. "Yes, that one."

"'Akatsuki,' wasn't it?" Jiraiya said lightly.

"Wrong," Bubble butt hissed.

Jiraiya's eyes widened, but before he could do anything, Grapefruit-breast's weak grip on his head immediately turned iron-strong and she twisted her hands, snapping his neck. At the same time, with a flash of gleaming steel, Bubble butt's hand slashed across the front of his exposed neck. Warm blood spurted out, dotting her expressionless face with red.

The two women let go of the Sannin and backed away; with a thud, the body dropped to the floor of the room. The white hair fanning around it added a sense of finality to their deed.

"See?" said the blonde, looking down at the body with a slight sneer on her face. "There was nothing to be nervous about."

Her partner poked the body with the heel of her pumps. "Zabuza-sama said he'd be strong, though."

"Give a ninja a woman and some sake and he's only a man," the blonde said sagely.

"I guess so...are you sure he was a Sannin?"

"That would be 'is' not 'was,'" said a voice from behind them.

Stiffening in shock, the blonde let out a cry of alarm, but before she could do anything else, something long and white had wrapped itself around both of the girls' bodies, immobilizing them. Squirming fruitlessly to free themselves, they saw before them the ninja they had just killed regarding them with a grave look on his face.

"But how?" cried out the blonde. She looked down at the ground – just in time to see the dead Sannin and the puddle of blood explode into a cloud of smoke, leaving nothing behind. Her heart pounding painfully against her ample chest, she slowly raised her eyes to meet the other ninja's, and what she saw there made her tremble.

"Now ladies," said Jiraiya. "Where were we?"

* * *

Missing Kakuzu by what felt like the width of a hair, Naruto's Rasengan slammed into the earth, sending out a great wave of mud. Before Naruto could move out of the way, his face crumpled in pain as he felt a crushing force slam into his ribs, sending him flying backwards. Then even before he'd landed, Kakuzu was right in front of him again – moving as fast as he could, Naruto ducked low below his leg, and kicked out sideways in a leg sweep, but dodging that, Kakuzu jumped high into the air.

Grimacing in pain, Naruto propelled himself after him with another crackle of lightning chakra, flashing into the air just above Kakuzu. With his teeth gritted, he concentrated on the ball of blue chakra materializing in his hand, determined to take advantage of his aerial position.

The moonlight was just behind him, and in that instant Naruto could finally make out what Kakuzu looked like. Dressed in a large black cloak that was fluttering in the wind, the man's face was mostly covered, but Naruto could see a pair of green pupil-less eyes staring straight back at him. They widened, as Naruto's hand plunged straight for the man's heart –

But in a smooth motion that seemed almost impossibly fast, Kakuzu's arm struck out at Naruto's hand, driving it outward so that it missed him, and with another turning kick that connected on his shoulder, sent him crashing down into the ground.

With another grimace, Naruto managed to twist on his hands to lessen the impact – which still sent out even more waves of mud in every direction, separating him from Kakuzu. As they waited for the mud to settle, Naruto hastened to clamber to his feet. Seeing tiny stars circling around him, he swayed – and then almost jumped, as suddenly, a raucous sound –  _was that squawking?_  – filled the air.

"Naruto!" He heard Mayu call out urgently. He turned and saw not only Kakuzu bearing down on him, but further back, what looked like a dense, dark cloud descending upon them. Immediately understanding her intention, he struggled to gather himself together – and then flashed away, dodging just in time Kakuzu's leg.

Landing a safe distance away, Naruto saw the flock of shrieking birds set instead on Kakuzu, screeching and nipping at the ninja. Impatiently, the man batted at the bird, ripping it in two – but instantly, the parts recombined back into a whole bird once more. This time, Kakuzu kicked out widely, destroying almost half the flock – but again, the birds reformed, and continued to peck at him. Lowering his leg, Kakuzu made a tsking sound of impatience; seemingly deciding to ignore the birds for now, he instead returned his gaze back to Naruto.

"I didn't realize," Kakuzu growled, sounding as if he were talking to himself. Whereas he had only regarded Naruto with passing interest before, his concentration was now wholly on him. For some reason, his eyes seemed especially fixated on Naruto's hair.

"What is your purpose for attacking us here?" Naruto called out, with a pant. Kakuzu took a step toward him, and his eyes narrowing, Naruto lowered himself into a defensive stance before continuing.

"You're an intelligent one, aren't you?" said Kakuzu, not sounding even the slightest bit winded. "At least, more so than the last jinchūriki we captured."

Naruto froze. As if an eraser had wiped across the chalkboard of his mind, everything went blank.

From a distance, he heard Mayu speak up, her voice tight with anxiety. "'Captured'? What do you mean?"

Kakuzu opened his mouth as if to answer – and then suddenly, he stumbled. A look of fleeting surprise flashed across his face.

"What's this...?" Kakuzu held a hand up to his head, as if holding himself steady. A shadow of a bird's wing flashed across his face, and as he looked around at the birds, understanding filled his expression. "Ah...the birds."

"My birds have poison on their beaks," Mayu said shakily. "And once a sufficient amount reaches your heart, it'll stiffen the heart muscle until it becomes so hard, it completely stops pumping blood, rendering it useless."

"I see," said Kakuzu. His hand dropped to his side. He looked at Mayu, his strange eyes glinting. "How fortunate for me, then, that I have multiple."

Before Mayu could react, Kakuzu exploded forward. He ignored Naruto, and as if in slow motion, Naruto blankly watched Kakuzu go straight past him. His eyes trailed from the moving ninja to, just ahead, the target – a pale, shaking form with widened eyes.

_Where have I seen this before?_

The nostalgia of the scene, as if clubbing Naruto in the head, brought him back into his senses.

"Mayu!" Naruto cried out. With a painful crackle, lightning chakra swept through his entire body, and he flung himself forward.

Moving faster than he could ever remember moving before, Naruto got in front of Mayu – but before he could do anything else, Kakuzu's kick connected with his chest, making a terrible crushing sound. The force behind it was powerful enough to send the two of them flying into the air before careening into the muddy ground.

With the wind knocked right out of him and his ribs screaming at him – he was fairly certain they were at the very least fractured, if not broken – it was all Naruto could manage to land on his two feet. To his relief, he heard Mayu land on her feet as well; with Naruto having taken most of the impact, it seemed that she was unharmed.

He felt something warm trickle down his chin, and when he raised a hand to wipe it off, it came away red.

Calmly, Kakuzu lowered his leg and looked straight at him. Panting, and with his teeth gritted, Naruto regarded the ninja.

The way Kakuzu seemed to always be one step ahead of him and the way Naruto's attacks seemed to be a mere hindrance, rather than an actual threat...it was almost like fighting Kakashi. But in this case, a Kakashi who did not care at all for his well-being.

One thing was for sure – Kakuzu was too strong for him.

Naruto wiped away another trickle of blood from his mouth.

_What should I do?_

Clearly, fighting Kakuzu one-on-one the way he was now would only get both him and Mayu killed. Even fighting two-on-one was also out of the question; Mayu was a long-range support ninja, and one of her most offensive weapons – the flock of blue birds – seemed to have no real effect on Kakuzu. Their escape strategy had failed them, and their attempts at reasoning or bargaining with the man had gone nowhere. Worst of all, Kakuzu had talked about jinchūriki as if he'd fought with one personally before – and as if he knew about what Naruto was.

However, that didn't matter, at the moment. What mattered was that Naruto was going to be dead very soon if he couldn't figure out how to take on Kakuzu.

But how? Kakuzu was stronger and faster than him. Naruto couldn't keep using his lightning chakra forever to dodge him, and he'd yet to even show his hand at jutsu. Kakuzu was completely out of his league...so how could Naruto defeat him? What did he have, that Kakuzu didn't have? That Kakashi didn't have?

Naruto felt a cold bead of sweat drip down his temple. He recalled in his mind the words of a year ago – the words of a monster – " _You've got guts, if anything. Very well then. Here is a gift for coming this far!"_

His hands balled into fists by his side.

He'd told himself that he was merely putting off talking to the  _beast_  because he was so busy, but the truth was...he'd never wanted to use its power. But now – what other choice did he have left?

Letting out a deep breath, Naruto forced himself to relax. Closing his eyes and clearing his mind of everything else, he prepared to set foot once more in the long watery corridors of –

"What?" he heard Kakuzu suddenly spoke up, and his eyes flew back open.

Kakuzu had been silently regarding him – occasionally batting aside the birds that still continued to peck at him – but now, his head was tilted upward, as if talking to someone in the sky. After another long silence, Kakuzu bowed his head.

"Very well, then...as you wish." Kakuzu lowered his eyes to meet Naruto's shocked ones. "I'll be back eventually. Prepare yourself."

And then without another word, he disappeared.


	22. Veritable Pandemonium

The ship's departure from the dock had been stalled for some time for an unknown reason, but finally, when both the sky and the ocean had become a deep inky black, it set off again. The lights from the cabins cast a reflective yellow glow across the sea, making it an easy mark for Kakashi to follow.

Keeping watch from below the stern of the ship, it hadn't taken him much effort to identify the cabin Naruto and the others were in. Naruto must have passed by an uncovered porthole, for Kakashi had immediately noticed the flash of red.

 _It's not like you to let down your guard, Naruto, even if you're returning from a completed mission_ , Kakashi chided silently.

As the hours passed, the wind picked up and the lights in the cabins began to flicker off. Kakashi himself was starting to feel it in his shoulders –  _I'm getting old, aren't I?_ , he thought amusedly to himself – and he'd been drenched in icy sea water more than once from straying too close to the ship.

Finally, only when Kakashi had narrowly avoided being vomited on by some poor straggler at the deck of the ship, did he decide that it was time to actually get on board.

Projecting a burst of chakra down to his legs, Kakashi shot himself up along the ship's side, landing silently in the shadowy silhouettes of a stack of wooden barrels. Looking around the empty deck, he made sure that the coast was clear. Though even if it weren't, he doubted he'd come across any real trouble – the ship had some hired guards, but they were at best genin-level ninja who could barely tell apart clones from the real thing. No, the hardest part about this would be hiding his presence from Naruto and the others.

However, Naruto's cabin was all the way at the other side of the ship, and it was unlikely that any of them would venture out before dawn – by which time they'd already be at the border of Fire country. The best course of action, he decided, would be for him to simply sit tight where he was, and then get off the ship before it docked at port.

Suddenly, hearing footsteps, Kakashi shrunk further into the shadows – but it was just a stumbling, pale-faced cabin boy simultaneously swearing and hacking up what looked like the rest of his dinner over the railing. Nevertheless, Kakashi kept his eyes sharp and watched the boy, with a final utterance of a curse word, stumble back down through a hatchway.

Kakashi wrinkled his nose; some of the vomit must have splashed on to the deck, for he could quite clearly smell, along with the distinct odor of stomach acid, that dinner must have involved quite a few potatoes.

* * *

"What - what are you going to do to us?" Grapefruit-breasts breathed in a high voice, her eyes flicking down repeatedly to the object he was twirling in his hand.

"Surely you don't think we'll crack from you  _tickling_ us with a  _feather_ ," Bubble butt scoffed. She'd recovered face relatively quickly despite being completely immobilized in his hair trap, but the underlying tension was still apparent.

"This will make excellent material for the next book I'm writing," said Jiraiya with a shake of the feather. "It'll take some time, but you ladies aren't particularly pressed for it I hope?"

"We're not telling you anything!" Bubble butt spat at Jiraiya, but he made no move to avoid or clean it off. He sighed instead.

For her own sake, he hoped she would.

* * *

They were waiting where they had agreed to meet, by a massive oak tree near the edges of a forest along the far outreaches of Tazuna's village.

After everything they had already gone through, Naruto had braced himself for the worst – so when Rai and Sai's faces finally came into view, the relief he felt was so immense, he nearly stumbled on his landing. With Mayu helping to support him up, the two of them landed down just as the sun was starting to rise, spreading its tendrils almost shyly through the cracks of the canopy trees.

"Mayu! Naruto!" Rai called out to them, relief spreading across in his face. Leaving Sai behind, he began to run toward them. "You're alri - whoa...Naruto?" Rai hesitantly came to a stop in front of them, his eyes raking up and down Naruto's bloodied form.

"I'm fine, they're just flesh wounds," said Naruto, deciding not to mention the pain in his ribs. The pain had already ebbed away to a minor throbbing in his chest. Sitting down, he tipped his head back and allowed himself to lean back against the tree trunk.

"Kakuzu found us," Mayu said shakily, her arms crisscrossing across her chest.

Rai's eyes widened. "You too?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto frowned, quickly turning toward the other boy. "Were you caught too?"

"Yeah, that other one – Hidan, he got to us," Rai confirmed with a troubled look on his face. Then, apparently noticing Mayu's expression, he hastened to add, "But nothing happened. He was just spewing a lot of crap...and then he suddenly started talking to the air, before leaving."

"That's essentially what happened with us," said Mayu. "Except...except Kakuzu didn't talk so much." Rai's face noticeably grew in pallor, and this time, it was her turn to add, "Don't worry, I'm alright. It was Naruto who fended him off right until he suddenly left."

As some of the color returned to his face, Rai let out a whistle. "Didn't Sai say he was an S-rank? And you managed to hold him off?"

Naruto didn't say anything, but clenched his hands tightly. He looked down at the ground, unable to meet his teammates' eyes. It had been his plan to split up the team and send off decoys, but it hadn't worked. His decisions had placed all of his teammates in danger, and it could only be called a miracle that they were all there alive.

"Naruto – " he heard Mayu start, but she was cut off as suddenly, Rai punched him on the shoulder so strongly, he could have sworn he'd heard another rib crack. Naruto's head snapped up to see Rai looking down at him exasperatedly.

"Oh come on now, enough with the gloom," said Rai. "Two insanely powerful lunatics were after us but the three - well, four I suppose – of us are all here in one piece, relatively unharmed. What more could you ask for?"

Naruto paused. "Sorry," he finally said, his hands uncurling at his sides. Rai was right; this was no time to be wallowing in regret.

And if it was any consolation, despite Kakuzu's comment about jinchūriki, Mayu seemed to be none the wiser.

"Anyways," Rai said, waving away his apology with a dismissive air. "We  _did_  get something out of that Hidan guy. Turns out they weren't just a random pair of criminals walking around in the middle of nowhere. They're involved with whatever's going down in Wave country right now."

Mayu's hand leapt up to her open mouth. "You mean with Gatō?"

"There's going to be an event of some sort in three days," Sai finally spoke up. It seemed the incident with Hidan had gotten to him; he seemed unusually on edge. "Someone important will be in the city."

Rai shrugged. "Well, that's the basic digest of what we thought Hidan was saying anyways. It's probably got nothing to do with us, but..."

Naruto got to his feet. "But first things first, we need to get back. We'll decide what to do after we've gotten back in touch with Shirakumo and the others."

However, forced to take multiple detours and roundabouts to throw off any possible trackers, it was several more hours before Naruto and the others finally reached Tazuna's home. Ushered through the door by a worried-looking Tsunami, the starving four were promptly seated at the table with platters stacked high with – as one could have guessed it – fish and rice.

Once they had managed to get out the full story of what had happened, the involved adults stood around with troubled expressions on their faces while Naruto and his teammates stuffed their faces.

"An event in the harbor city in which someone important will be in danger?" Tsunami murmured uneasily.

"There's only one thing that could be," said Kaine flatly.

Tazuna sighed. "Aye. The ceremony."

"The ceremony? What's that?" Menma cocked his head curiously. "You've got a piece of rice stuck on your face by the way," he pointed out to Rai, who ignored him.

"The daimyō and his children will be paraded through the city in a charade of well-being, with the stated purpose of reassuring the citizens that they are doing just fine," Kaine spat. "But basically, one of Gatō's ways of appeasing the other nations by telling them that he's not trying to overthrow the system."

"And at the same time, reminding everyone in the country who's really in control," Shirakumo murmured, his brow furrowed in thought.

"So is the daimyō going to be assassinated then?" Tazuna asked in a heavy voice.

"It depends on whether those two you described – Hidan and Kakuzu, was it? – work for Gatō or not," Kaine said. "But regardless, this doesn't change anything. Risks like this have already been accounted for in my plans."

Naruto put his chopsticks down, and looked at Kaine. "Plans?"

The others had also stopped eating – though Rai continued to chew on some seaweed – as they waited for the guerilla merchant to answer. She looked around at them seriously, her freckles in stark contrast with the morning lighting.

"I've already forced you all to overextend your stay for the affairs of a country that have nothing to do with you," she said, with a slight bow of her head. "And I am truly sorry for that. But that ceremony in three days is when all my plans come to a head. After that ceremony is over, whether the mission has succeeded or failed, I will ensure with all my power that you are all properly compensated and relieved from your obligations here."

"And this mission will involve...?" Shirakumo crossed his arms across his chest.

Kaine smiled grimly, and looked directly at Naruto. "How good are you all at behaving like actual, normal children?"

* * *

Hirumo whistled as he looked around at the messy scene. "This is brutal, Jiraiya-sama..." His nose wrinkled. "Is that something  _burning_  I smell?"

Hirumo was one of his trusted sources in Wave country, and their mutually beneficial relationship had a long history spanning the many years Jiraiya had spent building up his spy network. The short pony-tailed ninja's best characteristic was, in Jiraiya's opinion, the way he showed up promptly and without any unnecessary questions as soon as he was called for. He was, if anything, efficient and experienced in covering his tracks, making the chance of his being caught and spilling details of their alliance rather miniscule indeed.

Jiraiya sighed heavily. "If only they'd break sooner." He made no move to wipe his face, which was speckled with tiny flecks of dark blood. "It would have been better for them."

"I assume you got the information you wanted?"

"Some. The one who actually knew anything didn't break quite so easily."

Squatting down, Hirumo opened the mouth of one of the bodies, peering inside it with the air of looking at an interesting museum specimen. "You had preventative measures to stop her from biting her tongue or ingesting any sort of poison, I gather?"

"Yes," Jiraiya said simply. He chose not to mention how he'd chosen to end her life as soon as he realized that he'd gotten everything he'd ever get out of her. A loyal one, she'd been. "She was working for Zabuza...who is in turn, working for Gatō."

Hirumo nodded in confirmation. "Yes, I've heard multiple reports about Zabuza being spotted as a bodyguard for Gatō. He's not exactly a difficult man to miss. But is that it...?"

"She didn't seem to understand the significance behind a certain word they were using as a code name for suspicious individuals such as myself...but perhaps you could shed some light on their connection to them."

"This certain word being...?" Hirumo said curiously.

"'Akatsuki.'"

"Akatsuki..." Hirumo repeated slowly, tasting the word with his tongue. His eyes had lit up like a child that had just caught sight of a favorite toy he had put aside at one point, and then forgotten about its existence. "I'd heard rumors but dismissed them..."

"Rumors about?" Jiraiya prodded him.

"About a growing organization that was supporting Gatō from the shadows – or even controlling, perhaps," Hirumo said. Then with a thoughtful look, he added, "There's been a confirmed recent sighting of Kakuzu at one of the bounty stations along the coastline."

Jiraiya folded his arms across his chest, processing the information. Kakuzu was one of the more frequently spotted members of Akatsuki, showing up from time to time to turn in a ridiculous amount of bounties in exchange for money. However, there was nothing Jiraiya could do about that – bounty stations were strictly black market, and while information regarding Kakuzu's visits could be bought at a price, his visits were indiscriminate and without pattern, making them impossible to track.

Hirumo got up, wiping his hands clean on the sides of his pants. "Was that it, Jiraiya-sama?"

"There was one final thing I got out of the interrogation," Jiraiya said distractedly. "They were supposed to report back to Zabuza at some sort of big event soon, in the harbor city. Do you know anything about that?"

"That'll be the daimyo's ceremony for sure," said Hirumo without any hesitation.

"Ceremony?"

* * *

"Out of the way, kid!"

In the fat man's hurry to get to the front of the crowd, he reached out with an impatient hand to shove the small boy to the side – but to his surprise, it swiped uselessly through the air. The man glanced down and then did a double take, finding nothing there. He looked around – but there were at least a dozen other children of the same size and coloring in the immediate vicinity. The boy could have been any one of them. So, with little more than a fleeting wondering thought, the man moved on.

Meanwhile, through bright blue eyes, Naruto watched the man disappear into the crowd before effortlessly merging into it once more. As he began to be jostled forward by the mass, he looked around at the numbers calculatingly.

It seemed that a substantial number of people had gathered at the city for the ceremony, for he had never seen even half that number of people during the busiest hours of the city. And while most of them looked like civilians, there were some who stood out like a sore thumb, namely those with weapons. Most were subtle, with daggers strapped to their thighs, but here and there were the obvious ones with bulky swords and katana on their backs. Those kinds of people walked about with a bubble around them, as the civilians avoided eye contact and gave them a wide berth.

A flashing motion caught Naruto's eye, and he turned to see a scruffy-looking boy with dark coloring nod at him before ducking and disappearing into the crowd –  _Rai._ As he looked around, several more caught his eye – a sour-faced girl with short hair, a scratched-up boy with cropped black hair... _Sakura. Menma._

He couldn't spot Mayu, Sai or Sasuke but that was because they were situated on the other side of the venue, a winding path that led from the daimyō's ceremonial estate to the city's center. They were all arranged strategically near the front of the crowd, along with most of the other civilian children. It was a custom in Wave country for the daimyō's procession to hand out ryō and candy to the watching children, and as Naruto looked around at the many orphans crowding around him, it was apparent that most of them had made the pilgrimage here for that very purpose.

 _Is this why Kaine-san took it as well as she did, when she found out we were her escorts?_ , Naruto wondered.

 _Henge_ , the transformation jutsu, was an E-rank jutsu, but it was difficult to maintain perfectly while under high external strain. And the closer your transformation was to your real appearance, the easier it was to maintain it. For example, it would be easier for an adult male to transform into another adult male than into a young boy, and vice versa. Once Naruto and Sasuke's teams had transformed into typical hungry-eyed children, melting into the background became effortless.

This was key for the mission Kaine had proposed to them three days earlier in Tazuna's house: to rescue the daimyō's two children, the prince and princess, so that Gatō couldn't use them as a means of controlling the daimyō anymore. According to Kaine, rescuing the daimyō himself would be too risky – not only would he be the most heavily guarded, but it would only give Gatō a reason to seize the vacuum of authority left behind in the daimyō's absence, no matter how temporary.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of motion and then hushed whispering. The moving crowd came to a stop, all of the heads facing one direction – and there, at the far end of the pathway, Naruto could see what looked like the beginnings of a procession making its way through. At the back was a series of ornately decorated sedan chairs, from which Naruto could make out smiling faces and waving hands – the daimyō and his children. And standing around them was an array of women and men with kunai and swords glinting nakedly on their persons. Naruto quickly did a headcount and saw that Kaine's information had been on spot: the sedan chair holding the princess and prince was relatively lightly guarded with three bodyguards, not including the carriers. If Kaine's information could be further counted on, there were a few more guards scattered in the crowd disguised as civilians, but if their plan worked out, they shouldn't have time to matter.

The daimyō's sedan chair on the other hand, was surrounded by no less than seven guards, most prominently of which was a pale-skinned man with bandages running across the lower half of his face, and a gigantic broadsword on his back. Without fail, wherever he passed through the crowd, a visible wave of fear swept through it.

"That's Zabuza," a passing voice hissed tightly in his ear –  _Menma_  – and Naruto nodded. So this was the infamous missing-nin. He'd thought that Menma's team had finished him off, but this was no time to question things. Either Zabuza had survived or someone was impersonating him – whatever the case, he was another powerful obstacle they would have to get through to complete the mission.

Naruto felt an uneasy shiver go down his spine. It was strange, however, that a missing-nin could be so boldly parading in front of thousands of people like that. No matter how powerful he was, he was basically painting a target on himself for any of his village's hunter nin.

As he waited for the signal, Naruto watched the procession get closer and closer to where he was standing. Every now and then, a hand, full of something that glinted brightly in the afternoon sun, popped out of one of the sedan chairs and every time, as if a dam had broken, the children surged forward. There seemed to be some invisible rule in place that prevented adults from joining in; when a few stragglers moved forward to do so, they were promptly knocked out by the children around them. If they were lucky, their unconscious bodies were dragged out to the edge of the crowd.

Just as the first sedan chair began to pass by where Naruto was waiting, the hand popped out once more, and this time, he could see that it was attached to a young-looking girl dressed richly in pale robes. She looked cheerful – likely she was too young to understand the precarious hostage situation her family and country was in. The children around Naruto surged forward, and he joined in half-heartedly. He reached up in the air with a hand – and in that instant, met the princess' gaze. Her eyes were blue, like his. Taken aback, he held his breath – and then with a bright smile, she tossed the coins in her hand toward him.

Before they reached him, however, several of the larger and rougher orphans knocked his hand aside and leaped up to swipe the coins. Naruto saw another orphan boy aiming a kick at his chest; easily dodging it, he nevertheless pretended to have been hurt and fell backward in the crowd, intending to disappear and lose whatever the small attention he'd unintentionally gathered.

But before Naruto hit the ground, a strong hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him up. He looked up to see a tall man with long shaggy white hair, and immediately recognized him as the man he'd chanced upon in the bathhouse a week ago.

"Are you alright?" said the man, and Naruto mutely nodded, his mind whirring with several possibilities – was this other man working for Gatō? Had he found out about the plot, and seen through Naruto's disguise? But before Naruto could do anything else, the man simply said, "be more careful from now on," and then walked away.

Naruto stood still, unsure of how to react – and as if answering him, a roaring sound filled his ears. Naruto's head snapped toward the procession's path just in time to see three massive black and white tigers leaping at Zabuza –  _the signal!_

The crowd had been stunned into silence, but as the missing-nin pulled his sword off his back with an accompanying flash of steel, they were galvanized into action. Screaming, people, children and adults alike, began scrambling away from the path. The same orphan boy who had tried to kick Naruto before came running at him with a panicked expression on his face; leaping forward, Naruto jumped past him, heading straight for the procession.

Naruto landed on the path, with Rai, Sakura and Menma right behind him. All of the guards were distracted, focusing their attention on the other side of the path, where now, on top of Sai's beast drawings, a flock of birds as well as several fast-moving bodies were wreaking havoc.

Naruto pulled the tantō from his back and in the same smooth action, burst forward to the princess and prince's sedan chair. The main guard, a tall disciplined-looking woman with hair tightly pulled back in a bun, noticed him and as she raised her blade toward him, her mouth opened to shout a warning. But before she could make a sound, Naruto was past her – with a spray of bright red blood, the body fell to the ground and her head rolled away on the ground. When Naruto glanced behind to check, he saw that Rai had similarly taken care of the other guard, while Menma and Sakura knocked out the third. Menma and Sakura looked at them with stunned expressions on their faces, but paying no mind, Naruto reached into the sedan chair.

The prince and princess, looking terrified, had backed away to the other side. Noticing that their eyes were fixated on the blood dripping from his tantō, Naruto hastily returned it to its sheath. Then, he grabbed the arm of the princess – Rai grabbed the prince – and pulled her trembling figure out. She began to struggle in his hands but she was weak, even for a civilian.

"What're you doing?" the princess cried out. "Stop!"

"We're here to save you," said Naruto quietly. He shot a look toward the daimyō's sedan; though Zabuza's back was toward them, one of the guards had noticed them and had started to move toward them with a sword in his hand. "We don't have time. Come quietly, or I'll knock you out."

Growing still, the princess' eyes became as round as the coins she'd been tossing out, and taking advantage of it, Naruto tossed her over his shoulder and jumped out of the chair. Just as he prepared to leap down into the crowd, there was a scream –

"Rai!"

Naruto turned to see Rai duck just in time to dodge a long sword. Rai backed away protectively in front of the prince as the guard thrust the sword again at him. Naruto's hand immediately went down to the kunai on his thigh holster, but before he could throw it, there was a flash of blue and then the guard was yelping, swiping at the air around his face with his hands.

"Mayu!" Rai yelled out, relieved. "I'm okay! Go help the others!"

Mayu, pale-faced, nodded. Menma tackled the guard she'd been distracting, and she ran off, her birds flocking around above her head. To Naruto's relief, Zabuza seemed to be completely ignoring them, focusing his attention instead on the jōnin weaving in and out to attack him – Shirakumo. Naruto and Rai jumped down into the crowd, the princess and prince collectively in their arms, and began to run swiftly past the shocked faces of the civilians.

As they ran through the mayhem, one guard managed to get past Menma and Sakura, but Naruto quickly disposed of him with a flick of a kunai. After that, with a cursory look around, Naruto confirmed that there was no one else coming after them.

"Send the signal," Naruto said shortly. Rai nodded, and brought his hands together in the snake hand seal. Immediately, there was a distant exploding sound; on the other side of the gigantic crowd, a billowing black cloud of smoke rose into the air – a planted harmless letter bomb that signaled that Naruto and Rai had successfully retrieved the prince and princess, and that the others should retreat.

 _Be safe, everyone_ , Naruto thought to himself, his teeth gritted and his heart pounding loudly in his ears.

* * *

With a long history of battle with fate, Jiraiya had set foot in the harbor city that morning steeling himself for whatever the day's events should throw at him. However, what was unfolding before his eyes had even his mouth dropping wide open.

It was utter chaos. Any semblance of order had dissipated as soon as the missing-nin from Mist drew his sword. Civilians were screaming and scrambling to distance themselves, while a scattered few in the crowd were drawing hidden blades and struggling to reach the procession.

From what Jiraiya had been able to see, it looked as though a group of ninja had attacked the guards standing around the daimyō's sedan chair. While the guards were distracted, a group of four civilian children swooped onto the sedan chair in front – it was at this point that Jiraiya realized they probably weren't as innocent as they looked – and pulled out a pair of children, before running off with them.

Jiraiya was now in a quandary. Should he interfere? And if so, which side? The supposed kidnappers, or those who had been keeping the daimyō hostage?

His gut was tugging him in the direction of the daimyō's sedan chair. As a cloud of black smoke suddenly burst beside him – the level of screaming around him elevated to even higher heights, but Jiraiya could tell it was harmless – he decided to trust it. It was, after all, what had kept him alive all these years.

Leaping strongly into the air, Jiraiya headed directly for the daimyō's sedan chair – and as he did so, immediately, he could tell that something was off.

The smoke must have been a signal for them to retreat, for the various ninja that had been attacking were now trying to flee. But even as he watched, the one named Zabuza knocked out a black-haired boy with a swing of his blade and then reached out to grab a thin woman, who slumped in his grasp.

There were two cloaked figures beside him, one holding an older man and a struggling young girl in each hand, the other exchanging blows with what appeared to be a shinobi wearing the Leaf hitai-ate. Now that Jiraiya was close enough to see, he knew immediately who he was facing: The masked one was Kakuzu. The other one was not a familiar face to Jiraiya, but judging from his black cloak, was a member of Akatsuki as well.

"Jiraiya-sama!" the shinobi, who Jiraiya suddenly recognized as one of the Leaf's jōnin, cried out. "Is that really you?!"

Leaning forward, Jiraiya thrust out his hand and struck a pose. "Yes, it is I! Jiraiya, the great Toad Sage and bestselling author of  _Icha Icha!_ "

Zabuza turned toward him. "So you're one of the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya..." He released the woman he'd been holding; falling to the ground, she scampered away.

The man beside Kakuzu looked interested. "A Sannin?"

"As much as I'd like to get the bounty on your head, Sannin," said Kakuzu. "I have no interest in fighting you today. Some other time, perhaps." He jerked his head at the other man, who scowled widely. Zabuza stepped back to the sedan chair to grab a frightened-looking man in fancy robes.

"Some other time, you say..." said Jiraiya. "That'll be difficult, seeing as how you'll be dead."


	23. Raising the Curtain

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, a distant explosion rocked the ground. The walls of the building shook, and dust from the ceiling trickled down around them. There was a dull clamor in the distance that could have been the sounds of screaming, but she tried not to think of it.

Princess Awano of the Land of Waves did not understand what was happening to them. Just that morning, she had finally been allowed to see her old nursemaid, and she had been dressed in fine silk robes that felt unbearably soft after months of wearing nothing but rough smocks.

The small man in black glasses had been there. He'd appeared in her doorway with the two bodyguards who never left his side. And then he'd promised her that if she or her little brother ever stopped smiling on that day's procession, he would rip off all of their fingernails.

Awano believed him: The last time the small man had made them a promise, her mother had disappeared.

And she'd tried her best. Every time Hakyū looked like he was about to cry, she'd squeezed his hand and stretched her own smile even wider.

But even though she'd never stopped smiling, their guards had all been killed in front of them, heads and bodies falling unnaturally away from each other.

Amidst explosions and shouting, they'd been dragged from their chairs and carried away. Now, they were hiding in an empty building by the waterside. Hakyū shook in her arms, and Awano drew him in closer to her thudding chest, but she dared not scream.

After all, the two who had kidnapped and brought them here were right in front of them.

The one with a scar on his face silently paced back and forth, gripping what looked like a knife in each hand. In sharp contrast, the other, with bright red hair—the one who had taken Awano—was pressed up against the wall by the door, stock still.

They had been hiding in the masses of children that had swarmed her sedan chair, but they must have been working for the man in black glasses. And now, they were just waiting for the signal to kill.

Awano looked down at her brother, and smiled at him. Maybe she just hadn't been smiling enough. Maybe if she kept smiling, she thought, the small man in black glasses would change his mind.

Suddenly, the boy who had been pacing stopped, and at the same time, Awano thought her heart would burst.

"Someone's coming."

* * *

As far as Naruto was aware, everything had gone pretty much according to plan—except for the final and most important part: That everyone re-group at the safe house Kaine had managed to procure. Well, he and Rai were there with the prince and princess, but the absence of the others who should have been back by now was painfully apparent.

If the plan hadn't stressed the importance of sticking to their individual parts, Naruto would have already left by now in search of his remaining teammates. As it was, he had to force himself still, and lacking the means of any meaningful communication, the most he could do was to keep his senses sharp for the slightest sound of approach.

Thankfully, he wasn't kept waiting for too long. The first to arrive was Kaine. She came alone, shivering from either cold or adrenaline.

As soon as the door opened, the merchant woman froze and stared at Naruto. She looked lost, as though she hadn't been the one to outline the entire plan in the first place, before a look of relief filled her face. Stepping into the building, however, some of the relief began to visibly fade.

"Where is everyone else?"

Naruto cleared his throat. "You're the first one to make it back." And hopefully, he added to himself, she wouldn't be the last.

"You didn't see the others? Did you see Mayu?" Rai prompted, his tone worried.

Kaine shook her head. "It's chaos out there. We all got separated... I barely got away myself. I'll get into the details once the others get here."

His jaw setting, Rai didn't respond. Instead, with an extra crease lining his furrowed brow, he resumed his pacing. Meanwhile, Naruto returned to his position by the doorway, his head spinning with possibilities.

It had always been a risk of the plan that some of them wouldn't make it back to the safe house. In fact, it was a risk that had always been there from the start; it was an integral part of their job description. Naruto was well aware, and had assumed the responsibility that came with it as soon as he'd accepted the mission.

And yet, there was something very wrong with their current situation. Something had felt off from the moment his team had arrived in Wave country. Had it been mere coincidence that he had met Hidan again? That Hidan had been with someone who knew about jinchūriki?

And who in the world was that white-haired man he'd met at the bathhouse and again at the procession?

It was as though he held several puzzle pieces in his hand, with no idea of where the rest of the puzzle was, or whether they all even belonged to the same puzzle. A frustrating thought—understanding how little he knew, yet lacking the capability to learn more.

It was then, with his thoughts being thrown about like leaves in the wind, that Naruto caught sight of the princess' face, and it gave him pause.

Was it because Kaine was an adult, unlike he and Rai? With every step Kaine took towards the two children, Naruto thought he could see the color drain from the princess' face. The princess' mouth opened, and he thought she would speak –

Suddenly, his attention snapped up towards the ceiling. There was an open crack there that led to the outside, and something had just slipped inside—a bird.

For an instant, hope welled up in his chest, but it was quashed just as quickly: It was a small bird made of ink, not a bluebird, and it flew down straight into his hands.

"It's from Sai," Naruto announced, reading the contents off a scroll. "He and two others are on their way."

As if right on cue, the door slammed open, and Sakura and Menma staggered inside. Looking slightly less bedraggled, Sai followed them. As the three collected their breaths, there was a pregnant pause. And then –

"Where's Mayu?" Rai blurted out.

"I'm fine, thanks," said Sai, but for once, the smile was gone from his face. He looked around at the building's occupants, and his gaze fixed on Kaine. Something there hardened.

Before anyone else could say anything, Sai made his move. And somehow, Naruto knew what he was going to do.

In a flash of movement, there was a screeching sound as Sai's kunai met Naruto's, an inch from Kaine's exposed neck.

* * *

"Some other time you say...that'll be difficult, seeing as how you'll be dead." Even before the last few words had left his lips, Jiraiya began to move, joining his hands together in the snake seal: "Ranjishigami no Jutsu _(Wild Lion's Mane Technique)_!"

His chakra coursing through his hair, it burst out into what looked like gigantic white ropes that surged through the air, flying straight towards his opponents.

In an impressive range of diversity, the men immediately splintered into three different responses: With the two bodies still in his hold, Kakuzu deftly leaped into the air, evading his attack. Zabuza on the other hand released the man he had been holding and stood his ground, countering his technique with an oversized sword. Meanwhile, with seemingly little regard for his own demise, the other member of Akatsuki shot straight towards Jiraiya, a maniacal expression stretched across his face and a flashy scythe in hand.

Scooping Zabuza's cargo—a man who could only have been the country's daimyō—out of harm's way with one rope of his hair, Jiraiya felt his lungs swelling up with chakra and reared back. "Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu  _(Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu)_!"

Sheer heat searing his face, he blew out a stream of fire that roared along the ropes of his hair toward his opponents. In an instant, the one who had been making a beeline for Jiraiya was consumed in the fire, and the smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils.

On the other side of the battlefield, Zabuza raised his sword and sliced the air with a gigantic swing, countering the stream of fire headed in his direction. However, it was all he could do to raise it just in time to parry another sword—this time, from Shirakumo.

Jiraiya returned his attention towards the man who was now a burning inferno before him. It was curious; by all standards, he should have been reduced to nothing but melted flesh and charred bone by now, but even as he could begin to make out hints of pure white bone in the man's face, the man kept walking toward him. His lips had burned off, but the bared teeth made it look as though he was grinning. No—the madman was actually laughing, the sound raising goosebumps along Jiraiya's arms. In a single creaking motion, the burning skeletal frame raised its scythe –

Since evading Jiraiya's first attack, Kakuzu had made no move from the peripheries to help his allies, but he spoke now, in guttural tones: "Zabuza!"

It must have been a warning—thrusting his sword forward to force Shirakumo back, the missing-nin held up his free hand in a tell-tale sign. Thick, immovable mist converged on the grounds, fogging his senses.

"I will claim the bounty on your head, eventually." Kakuzu's disembodied voice rang out harshly. "But for now, you are not our target."

And then they were gone.

For a moment, Jiraiya debated the merits of entering Sage mode—as distasteful as its appearance was—and giving chase, but dismissed it. There was a storm brewing in the horizon, and he had not survived on his own after all these years by remaining his younger, brash self. What he needed at this juncture was patience...and more information on who exactly he was facing.

A body soon approached Jiraiya: It was Shirakumo. Drawing closer, he saw that the jōnin was supporting on each arm the body of the daimyō and another boy. One of his students, perhaps.

Shirakumo's voice was heavy. "Jiraiya-sama... They've taken two of ours."

Jiraiya solemnly surveyed what he could of their surroundings. Most of the civilians in the vicinity had managed to escape before the confrontation, but there were casualties scattered here and there, hidden in the fog.

While the intel he had received from Hirumo had led him here, he'd found no answers, only more questions. Such as, why were two members of Akatsuki here? Having tracked their movements over the years, Jiraiya had found that they tended to work in pairs when hunting down particularly strong bounties or important targets. What was of such importance here in Wave country that warranted the presence of not only two Akatsuki members, but an S-rank missing-nin such as Zabuza?

It was a gut feeling, but Jiraiya suspected that there was something more at stake here than Gatō's tyranny of a small island nation.

In a flash, he made up his mind. "Take me to the others you were with. You owe me an explanation or two."

* * *

The sun was up, the ship had docked in Fire country, and the remaining passengers were disembarking. The million-ryō question for Kakashi was: Where was his team, plus one?

He spotted a straggler getting off the ship, swaying side to side down the ramp—it was the cabin boy he'd seen earlier, who'd been sacrificing the contents of his stomach all night.

"Excuse me," Kakashi called out cheerily. "I've been expecting the arrival of four chūnin today from Wave country. Three males and one female, on the young side. Do you know where they are?"

To his surprise, the cabin boy scowled. "Those thieves were ninja? Never got back on board, did they?"

Kakashi blinked. "Excuse me?"

* * *

They remained locked in their positions, their blades grinding into the other's in a slow fall towards an impending assault.

Sai's eyes had never looked so cold. "Do get out of my way, before I kill the both of you."

Naruto could tell it wasn't an idle threat, but he didn't move. "Explain yourself."

Meanwhile, with a hand reaching into his shuriken holster, Rai turned furiously towards Sai. "What're you doing?! Get away from them!"

Sai's gaze flickered to his teammate, and Naruto could see the calculations going through his mind. He tensed, readying himself for battle—but after a long, drawn out moment, Sai lowered his blade.

"How do you think she got away from that battle?"

The question hung in the air, and Naruto turned to Kaine. Despite the near attempt on her life, she was oddly composed. There was a resigned, almost relieved, look on her face, and with a lurching realization, it told him everything he needed to know.

"How did you figure it out?" said the woman.

"I'd had my suspicions: Your choice of cargo. The attack in the boat. The way your plans separated us. And they were all confirmed the moment I saw Zabuza let you go."

In two rigid motions, Kaine bobbed her head in acknowledgment. "You weren't supposed to see that. I don't think you were supposed to survive."

A slow, creeping sensation began to rise up in Naruto's chest.

"Wait...what's going on?" said Rai, wearing an expression as though he had just been clubbed. "What're you talking about?"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Kaine shrugged with the weariness of defeat, and raised her bare hands in surrender. "Do what you will with me."

Sai cocked his head, raising an eyebrow at Naruto in a silent question.

Naruto could have asked many questions of the woman standing before him, but only one rose unbidden to his lips: "Who are you really working for?"

Her lips drew back in bitter relish, as though she had been waiting to hear that question her whole life. "Akatsuki."

* * *

When Mayu came to her senses, she was no longer fighting for her life in the iron grasp of the cloaked missing-nin. Instead, judging from the stiff material binding her arms to her sides and the stale feeling of air on her face, she was tied up on the ground somewhere indoors. Despite the rising sensation of panic in her stomach and the heat of bile in her throat, she forced herself to continue breathing at a slow, even pace. Next, taking great care, millimeter by millimeter, she opened her eyes a slit.

Almost immediately, she wished she hadn't, for she was alone in a dimly-lit cave. The foreboding sensation of being enclosed enveloped her, and the unease permeating her body intensified.

"Will he come for you, I wonder?" A high voice rang out.

A spike of chill ran down her spine, and Mayu's eyes flew all the way open. She struggled to flip onto her feet, but an inexplicable and absolute force kept her immobile in place, and the only thing she could do in that moment was to take in the sight which, contrary to her thoughts, stood before her: She was not alone. There was a man standing at the entrance of the cave. He wore the same black cloak the other missing-nin had been wearing, and an swirling orange mask hid his features from her.

"The Nine-tails jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto. What do you think about him?"


	24. Hidden Will to Fight

It had been years since Jiraiya had last returned to Konoha, and in his absence, Naruto had grown up.

Taking a good look at him, the boy's resemblance to his father was astonishing. If it wasn't for the flaming red hair he'd so clearly inherited from his mother, Jiraiya would have thought it was his old student brought back from the dead.

"What's going on here?" Shirakumo demanded, looking back and forth.

Unfortunately, this was perhaps not the best time for a reunion between godfather and godson; the safe house Shirakumo had promised looked to have been compromised. With a single sweeping glance, Jiraiya assessed the situation:

Naruto, along with three other Leaf chūnin surrounded a bound female civilian in what could only be an interrogation. Beyond them, a young female genin comforted two civilian children cowering in the corner.

"She betrayed us," said the blonde chūnin, his nostrils flared. "We stayed here to help her and she freaking betrayed us."

An angry looking chūnin rounded on Shirakumo. "Where the hell is Mayu? Why is she not with you?"

The jōnin shook his head. "I'm sorry. She and Tazuna were both taken. We don't know where, but we decided to first regroup to reassess the situation."

Letting out a swear, the chūnin reached down and grabbed the bound woman by the scruff of her shirt. "Where is she? Where did they take her?!"

To her credit, the bound woman looked calm. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't – "

"Who are you?" Naruto broke in.

It was directed towards Jiraiya; the boy's gaze had been fixed on him from the moment they had reached the safe house. Jiraiya felt intrigue bubbling inside of him. With Naruto looking this similar physically to Minato, he had to wonder whether he took after him in other aspects as well.

Thrusting out a hand, he struck a pose for the second time that day. "Thank you for asking! I am Mount Myōboku's Monk of the Frog Spirits, also known as the Toad Sage, Jiraiya!"

* * *

_Jiraiya._

Naruto had heard the name before—there had been numerous records of the Sannin's legendary deeds from the Second World War. If he remembered correctly, the Hokage had once mentioned the name as well, in association with his father.

In all the legends of the Sannin, however, none had mentioned a perverted old man who peeked in the women's baths.

Naruto glanced at Shirakumo, but the jōnin's demeanor seemed unfazed around the man. Nor did he look as though he was being controlled by some sort of genjutsu. Was this man truly who he claimed to be—the great Sage, Jiraiya? Could they count this strange man as a potential ally?

It may have been a comforting thought, especially in the light of recent events. But whereas he could see Team Shirakumo's members relaxing, Naruto did not jump to the happy possibility. Instead, he maintained his distance. He would choose his own allies, he thought.

"Does 'Akatsuki' mean anything to you two?" Naruto asked.

As expected, Shirakumo shook his head—but Jiraiya looked intrigued. "Is this civilian involved in Akatsuki?"

"What  _is_  Akatsuki?" Naruto pressed.

Jiraiya stroked his chin. "They're an organization I've been tracking for years now. For all intents and purposes, they function like mercenaries, taking on all sorts of nasty, shady missions the villages don't want to be associated with. But as for their final objective…well, that's why I'm still out in the field."

"Let me say this, at least." It was Kaine, her chin jutting out stiffly. "The true reason why Gatō has been able to stay in power is because Akatsuki has been supporting him from the shadows."

"Then how could you be working for them?" Rai exploded. "I thought you wanted to help this country!"

"They made me a deal. I was to go into the Hidden Leaf, request chūnin bodyguards on a journey to Wave country, and delay their return for as long as possible. In turn, they would withdraw their support for Gatō, allowing us to overthrow him and take back the daimyō." Kaine's voice grew quiet. "And of course, they reminded me of the consequences of failure."

Naruto's thoughts flashed back to their journey across the water, on the mysterious assassination attempt on the merchant.

Sai's eyes narrowed. "You sure are speaking freely. Why is that?"

"Even if you all kill me now, I've carried out my end of the deal. This country will soon be free. Gatō will be dead, and my brother's death won't have been in vain." A mixture of both resignation and pride struggled for dominance on Kaine's face. "There's no longer any reason for me to hide the truth. As I said, do what you will with me. I'm prepared for the consequences."

"But why?" Menma spoke up. "Why would this… Akatsuki group want to keep some random Leaf-nin here in Wave country?"

"Perhaps it wasn't so random," said Jiraiya, staring straight at Naruto.

One by one, the pieces were coming together. Judging by the glimmer of realization in Shirakumo's eyes and the puzzled looks on his teammates' faces, everyone his own age had been kept in the dark regarding Naruto. He felt a stab of irritation. Considering how the Hokage had gone out of his way to even put a seal on his memories, he'd thought the old man would have at least done a better job of keeping him a village secret. But now it seemed as though he was on the hit list of every other missing-nin out there.

"They're capturing jinchūriki," he said at last. "And they're here for me."

* * *

"The Nine-tails jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto. What do you think about him?"

Before she could stop herself, Mayu felt her eyes widen. How did this man know about Naruto? But no—she couldn't reveal that she understood his question.

"I don't know who you're talking about," she said, bracing herself for the man's reaction.

Instead, he seemed to take it in stride. "Well of course you do. He's your teammate, and current team leader."

From his similar attire and the way the man freely walked about the cave, it was clear that he was associated with the missing-nin who had captured her. However, that was the only thing he seemed to have in common with them. He didn't inspire overwhelming terror in the way those two did. He was just...weird.

As discretely as she could, Mayu scanned their vicinity—apart from the man, they were alone. She felt her heart lift; while she had been disarmed and bound with rope, she could still feel the clips in her hair.

In a voice that sounded stronger than she felt, she demanded, "What do you want from me? I'm not important enough to my village to ransom with, and no one's going to come here for me." Suddenly, with a pang, she thought of Rai. With any luck, Naruto would be able to hold him back from making any rash moves.

"Oho! So he's trash," said the man in a cheery voice.

Despite herself, Mayu frowned. "That's not what I said."

"What kind of team leader wouldn't come to rescue his team member?"

She hesitated. "The mission is more important than the individual. Naruto won't come to rescue me…" The force that had previously kept her frozen in place was gone, and she struggled up to her feet. "Because I don't need him to."

For some reason, that seemed to greatly amuse the man, who broke out into a laugh and began to spin around. "You think so? Kakuzu-san's keeping you here as bait, you know. But if they're not coming for you, why are we even keeping you here, then, hmm?"

Mayu started to try and wriggle a hand free; if she could just make the sign, she'd be able to release her bluebirds…

"Oh look!" The man was staring outside the cave's entrance, his form awash in the glow of the setting sun. "The day's almost over. You know what sounds good right about now? Some  _dango._  Should I send you home in time for dinner?"

She couldn't believe her ears. "Home?"

"Why not?"

The man spun back around and approached Mayu with a kunai. She flinched—but in a smooth motion, he cut through her bindings. The broken rope tumbled down to her feet. Rubbing the bruises on her arms, she stared at him in disbelief.

"Why are you letting me go? And where's Tazuna-san?"

"If you're referring to that old bridge-builder, I released him a while ago."

"But why? Why capture us in the first place at all?"

"Tut tut." The man wagged his finger. "Too many questions, not enough escaping! What'll you do if Kakuzu-san comes back and you're still here?"

He had a point.

Mayu took a step towards the entrance—and paused. "Thank you, whoever you are."

The man bowed mockingly. "You can call me Tobi."

* * *

It was a scenario that Naruto had rehearsed in his head countless of times: The moment his teammates learned the truth about him. In the nights when he'd been unable to find anything else to occupy his thoughts, he'd approached it in many ways. Sometimes, he tried bringing it up on his own. Other times, he was cornered into revealing his secret. Whatever the approach, his teammates' imagined reactions always remained fairly constant: Rai erupted in anger and accused him of being a traitor, while Mayu either calmed him down or shrank back in terror.

Now, it was actually happening—but in a way that Naruto, for all the thought he'd put into it, had never predicted. The first difference was that Mayu was not present, and at the reminder of her absence, Naruto felt a pang. The second difference was Rai's reaction: Confusion. Disbelief. Realization. Shock. Horror.

A myriad of emotions twisted his teammate's face, before melting away into one single, surprising emotion—concern.

"Then this is all a trap, isn't it? To get Naruto."

Jiraiya nodded solemnly. "Their objective is still unclear, but one thing's for certain. Several other jinchūriki have already disappeared, and in all cases, there were signs of Akatsuki interference. I can personally confirm the current presence of two Akatsuki members here in this area… Hidan and Kakuzu. With Naruto here, this is no mere coincidence."

At the names of the two missing-nin, Naruto—who had been too stunned to respond—felt a jolt. That was another piece, falling into place.

"Then we must let Hokage-sama know," Shirakumo said sharply. "This isn't just a matter related to Wave country anymore, this now concerns the safety of our entire village." He motioned towards Naruto. " _He_  needs to be returned to Konoha immediately."

Sai, who had been taking in the situation in shrewd silence, raised a hand. "Using my Super Beast Imitating technique, we can be back in Konoha before the end of the day."

"Wait, wait," Rai protested. "What about Mayu and Tazuna?"

"Before we can consider any rescue missions, Naruto's security comes first."

"What're you talking about? Trap or no trap, have you even  _seen_  him fight? He can take care of himself! Right, Naruto?"

With another jolt, Naruto realized that Rai had turned to him for backup.

Rationally speaking, it was a no-brainer. Assuming that Jiraya's intel was accurate and Akatsuki was a true threat, it would be senseless for Naruto to stay in Wave country. He had not forgotten the results of his previous confrontation with Kakuzu. Despite Rai's confidence in him, he had been powerless then, and though he hated to admit it, he would be powerless now. The best option would be to return to Konoha with the rest of his team, alert the Hokage, and if possible, send out an elite rescue force.

Although of course by then, it could be too late.

Everyone else had fallen silent, waiting for his response. Rai's ferocious expression was starting to become undone, with the beginnings of fear taking its place.

Naruto knew what was being asked of him. It had been a long time coming—ever since the day he and his teammates sat around a campfire in a dark crystal cave.

The situation was almost comical. How had a simple bodyguard mission turned out this way? The Hokage had said it was a mission to help him gain experience and if he did well, he would be considered for a position as a jōnin. A jōnin was a ninja who had the ability to make tough, split-second decisions in the face of conflict. The question was, which did he choose? The continued security of the rest of his team and the village? That was the smart, jōnin bet. Or would he gamble it all away for an unnecessarily high-risk rescue mission?

He wondered what Kakashi would have done...and shook his head. It really was a no-brainer.

Naruto cleared his throat. "We're not leaving without them."

It looked like he wouldn't be getting that promotion any time soon.

* * *

Leaving behind Shirakumo's genin team to guard the safe house, they immediately left the settlement. Luckily for the group, Jiraiya's earlier session with Zabuza's henchwomen had yielded several answers that were starting to prove more and more useful—mainly, the location of Gatō's main hideout. It was situated in the middle of the marshlands, hidden from any uninformed eyes by dense mist.

As they made their way through the forest, deftly hiding the sounds of their progress, the going was tense. The group's feelings were mixed on the matter, that much was obvious.

While Shirakumo hadn't seemed too happy about the decision, he had bent his knee once Jiraiya showed his support. His face lined with apprehension, the jōnin accompanied them now in grudging silence.

A chūnin who the others had called Sai wore a smile on his face like a mask. Jiraiya mentally marked him as one to watch.

The other chūnin with the similar sounding name—Rai, was it? Though he was the most ordinary of the lot, he seemed equally the most driven in this rescue mission. Whether his enthusiasm would serve to be a hindrance or not remained to be seen.

And finally... Naruto. Going by the reports Jiraiya had heard over the past several years, he wouldn't have expected such brashness from the boy. It seemed there was more of his mother in him than he'd thought.

Jiraiya wasn't a fool. At a minimum, what awaited them were three S-level missing-nin. While he had confidence in his own abilities, even with a jōnin of Shirakumo's caliber and three skilled chūnin by his side, he had no doubt it would turn out to be a very close fight.

However—though he would never admit this to the others—he was never one to pass up an opportunity to save a damsel in distress. Moreover, Naruto's decision on the matter intrigued him, and Jiraiya was willing to see where it took them.

"Have you tried to control the Nine-tails' chakra yet?" he asked.

Naruto's expression didn't change. "Once."

He left it at that.

The boy didn't trust Jiraiya. He couldn't blame him—in all his years of absence, he was a complete stranger to Naruto. Of course, Jiraiya had his reasons: He'd been away under the Third's orders, tracking down and gathering information regarding Akatsuki. Nonetheless, it was an undeniable truth that he had neglected his duty as godfather.

Perhaps, Jiraiya thought to himself, after all this was done and settled with, it was time that he trained the boy.

* * *

The journey by ship had taken the better part of three days, but running at top speed across the water surface, Kakashi covered the same distance in a matter of hours. As soon as the mist began to fade and the coastline appeared in the horizon, he began his retrieval strategy:

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu  _(Summoning Technique)_!"

A black seal appeared momentarily on the water's surface, and in a cloud of smoke, his  _ninken_  pack appeared by his side. Kakashi held out the only thing he had been able to find on the ship—a cloak that Naruto's shadow clone had presumably been wearing.

"I'll need you guys to get to work right away."

Once his hounds had the scent, they ran off ahead of Kakashi towards the main island.

Reaching the shore, he immediately noticed the difference since he had last left it several days before. In the place of the once crowded, worn-down settlement, there was now a muted emptiness. Buildings appeared to have been smashed to pieces. What had been destitute before had been replaced by complete and utter abandonment. The only sign of activity was smoke, rising in the distance from the forest.

Had there been an attack in the city? Where had everyone gone?

Kakashi picked his way through the settlement, noting several strewn bodies in the rubble. Thankfully, none of them wore the Leaf hitai-ate.

At the edges of the settlement, one of his hounds returned to him.

"Did you get anything?" asked Kakashi.

"There's a fresh trail that leads from the city and through the forest," said Pakkun. "But I also found someone wandering around, with whiffs of the scent."

Pakkun led him deeper into the forest, and soon, Kakashi spotted an older bespectacled man leaning against a tree trunk for support. After a moment, he recognized him as Tazuna, the man Naruto and the rest of his team had been staying with.

"I'm not your enemy," Kakashi said, stopping before him.

Letting out a surprised yelp, Tazuna fell backwards and began scrabbling on the ground. "Who are you?! Are you here to finish me off?!"

"I'm a ninja from Konoha, and I'm looking for Naruto and his team. Can you tell me what's happened and where they are?"

The older man hesitated, his eyes squinting suspiciously at Kakashi's masked face. "They...let me go, but they kept the girl. They told me to tell Naruto and the others. I have to find them now..."

Kakashi's heart skipped a beat. "'They'? Could you tell me where they are?"

* * *

It was more difficult than Mayu had expected, getting through the marshlands. The joy she had felt when she had first left the cave had since dissipated into a rising sense of trepidation as the elements took a turn for the worse. The fog grew thick and heavy, and the air turned freezing.

Continuing onwards, Mayu carried herself on thoughts of how her teammates would react when she reached the safe house. Rai would be the first to react; he'd be grinning widely, punching her on the shoulder for making him worry. Naruto would be standing to the side, not saying much as usual, but with a relieved look in his eyes and one less burden weighing him down.

Once they were back in Konoha, she thought, she would have to buy them bowls of ramen to make up for it. Kakashi-sensei would be there too, and Rai would be complaining about Sai. Naruto would be...would be...

The mist was thick. Too thick.

Mayu's heart began pounding.

She remembered this fog; it was not natural. It was a ninjutsu. It had been how her captors had first gotten away...

It all happened in the blink of an eye. One moment, she was alone in the fog with her thoughts. The next, she was flanked on both sides. An unnatural gust of wind blew away some of the nearby mist, revealing two dark figures, one tall and one short.

Mayu felt hot bile rising in her throat, but she pushed it back. In a flash, she made the appropriate signs with her hands and an instant later, her bluebirds were unfurling themselves from her hair.

_Naruto. Rai. Please find them._

Drawing back in a defensive position, Mayu took in a deep breath. She wasn't completely defenseless; though she didn't have any of her weapons, she still had her genjutsu. She could buy some time with that.

Her birds would dissipate the moment she died, but if it was the last thing she did, she would warn her team.


	25. Floating Dead Leaves

Mayu had never really stood out, but when she passed the exam for the Academy, her mother bought her a bag that she had been pining over for the past few months—a bright blue, fluffy ball-shaped one.

Her big brother Izumo gave her the Look when he saw her wearing it for the first time. "Mayu... I don't know how to break this to you, but you're going to be made fun of."

Mayu stuck her tongue out at him and ran to school where she found out that her brother, like always, was one hundred percent correct. As soon as the teacher left the lecture hall, some of the other children gathered around her and ripped the bag off her back.

"What is this? You call yourself a ninja?"

"Ha! I say it's perfect. An ugly bag for an ugly girl!"

They began to throw it back and forth amongst each other, and when she grabbed for it, they threw it on the ground. Feeling bewildered and overwhelmed, amidst their laughter, she felt her eyes grow hot with tears. She had wanted to be noticed, but now she wished they would leave her alone.

Suddenly, she felt a shadow on her face. Looking up, she saw a dark-haired boy staring down at her—Rai.

Mayu knew him, of course. He was in her class, and unlike her, he had a lot of friends. His older brother Kotetsu was also Izumo's best friend. Kotetsu brought him along sometimes, but the most they'd done was silently sit in opposite ends of the sandbox while their brothers talked.

Rai scowled at her, and for a second she thought he would yell at her. He picked up her bag, and she flinched—but then, he slung it over his back.

"Real ninja can wear anything," he told the stunned children.

It was the best day of her life—the day when she made her first friend.

The worst day of her life followed shortly afterwards.

It began when Mayu found herself hiding from her brother in a shrub, right under the kitchen window.

"Mayu!" She heard Izumo yell out, as he stormed into the kitchen.

A dry leaf poked uncomfortably into her cheek, but she dared not move; Izumo was a lot older than her and a chūnin. He would find her right away if she made a single sound. But over the years, Mayu had gotten quite adept at avoiding detection by her brother, a fact that both pleased and infuriated him.

"Mother, have you seen Mayu?"

"What is it now?" She heard their mother laugh.

Hearing her ringing laugh brought a smile to Mayu's face. Their mother was the nicest person in the village, and made the best cakes to boot. Her mother was baking one now, and the smell of the crispy apple filling made her salivate.

"She skipped going to the Academy today again!" Izumo complained. "It reflects badly on me that my own sister is like this, you know."

"I'd say it's healthier for a child to be running around, having fun than to be sitting in a classroom learning how to kill people," their mother said in a mild tone.

She could practically hear Izumo roll his eyes. "Oh, not this again."

Their mother did not approve of Mayu attending the Academy. Though she'd never said why, Izumo had told Mayu it was because their father had died years ago in battle. Izumo on the other hand, wanted her to at least learn the basics of defending herself. There had been a big fight over it, she remembered. But Izumo won in the end, and she'd had to start attending the Academy.

On the bright side, Rai was there, so it wasn't so bad. But it was so  _boring_. Mayu didn't care about learning how to set traps or throwing a shuriken with perfect precision. She would much rather run around the village with Rai, listening to all the merchants' stories at the market, looking at the clouds in the sky, and watching birds eat bread crumbs from her hands.

There was a light slapping sound.

"No, don't eat it," their mother said.

"What? Why not?" Izumo whined.

"It's not for you."

"Then who? It's not someone's birthday is it?" There was a small pause. "...you don't mean you're making a cake for that thing, are you?"

Mayu's ears perked up. What thing was this?

Their mother said quietly, "And what if I am?"

"I thought..." Izumo hesitated. "I thought we had agreed that you were going to keep your distance from it. I don't even understand why Hokage-sama's put you up to this, he knows it's because of that thing that father – "

"I have raised that child for the past three years," said their mother. "And I have kept my distance. But the more I see him, the more I realize that he doesn't understand anything. He doesn't know anything. He's only a child, like Mayu."

At the mention of her name, Mayu gulped and uttered a silent prayer that she would never be caught eavesdropping.

"How could you say that?" Izumo sounded angry. "Have you even seen what that thing looks like? It's not a human, it's the damn fox itself!"

"That's just the Uzumaki clan trait and you know it, Izumo. It's Naruto's sixth birthday tomorrow, and he's never even had a cake, so heavens help me, I am making him one. And that's final."

Of course, after all that, Mayu had to see the boy for herself.

The other kids jeered about him sometimes, but she'd never met him before. However, he wasn't hard to find; she soon caught his face peeking out of an apartment window by the market. He was the complete opposite of Mayu—easy to single out, with his bright red hair and unique facial markings.

She waved up at him. "Hi there!" Immediately, his face disappeared from view. She frowned, and tried again. "Do you want to play hide-and-seek?"

There was no response, and she was about to give up, when she heard a small voice.

"...I don't know how to."

What a weird kid, she thought.

"That's okay, I'll teach you," she said. "I'm Mayu. What's your name?"

"...Naruto."

It was a bright sunny day out, but for some reason, Naruto seemed reluctant to leave his apartment. Nonetheless, with some coaxing, Mayu was leading him towards the park when they ran into Rai, who was throwing shuriken at a homemade target.

Looking curious, he wandered over. "What're you doing? And who's that?"

"This is the boy my mom's taking care of." She gestured back at Naruto. "Come on, say hello."

"H-hello..."

"Hold on, I know him." Rai peered at Naruto, who shrank backwards. "Yeah...he's the one Kayumo's mom told us to stay away from."

"Really? Why?"

Rai shrugged. "I dunno. She got mad at Kayumo for letting him join our game of tag."

"Why would she? He's just a kid like us." Mayu smiled encouragingly down at Naruto. "Right?"

At first the boy didn't respond, and she was about to turn around and call it quits—when his whiskered face broke out into a small smile.

How cute, she thought.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

It all happened so suddenly. One moment, she was pulling Naruto by the hand, and the next, they were surrounded by a group of armed figures. They didn't wear the hitai-ate of any villages—they were rogue ninja.

Mayu wished she had paid more attention at the Academy, but it was too late for that. She was helpless, and was soon immobilized. Though Rai put up more of a fight, trying to fight back with his shuriken, even he couldn't do anything. One of the rogues threw a kunai at him, and Rai let out a howl of pain as it struck his cheek in a splash of blood. Another rogue hit the back of his head, and then Rai was on the ground, unmoving.

Now, they were somewhere underground, below the village—the sewers. She knew some of the older kids sometimes sneaked in there, but she hadn't dared to…until now. They'd never mentioned how suffocating it was, being surrounded on all four sides with no windows or doors. There was only darkness, the dirty smell of sewage, and the sound of running water.

Mayu had never been so scared in her life. The narrow walls of the tunnel around her seemed like they were shrinking around her, and she couldn't breathe. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest, it hurt.

All of a sudden, the rogue who was holding Mayu stopped. There was sweat on his hands, and it seeped into her mouth.

"They're coming."

The warning came not a moment too soon, as three dark figures swooped down from the ceiling. They wore animal masks—the ANBU. The rogues around her drew their weapons, and immediately engaged them.

Amidst the clanging and screaming of metal of meeting metal, Mayu felt a flicker of hope. She didn't know much about the mysterious masked ninja, but they were reputed as some of the best in the village. Surely, she thought, they were safe now.

"Stop!" The rogue holding Mayu cried out. Something cold and sharp touched her neck. "If you don't, I'll kill her here and now."

All three ANBU froze.

"Mayu!" One of them shouted.

It took a moment for her to recognize the voice behind the mask—it was her mother. Then, knowing that, she could no longer hold back the tears.

"Mom!" She struggled to free herself, but the man's grip was too strong.

"Your daughter? Lucky us. How's this for a trade then? You let us go with the jinchūriki, and we give you these two other kids back."

There was a pause.

"Very well," said a male ANBU's voice.

The bruising hold on Mayu slackened, and the other rogues began to retreat, taking Naruto's limp body with them. Tears and slime streaming down her face, Mayu ran into her mother's tight embrace.

For a moment, all was well. She could hear her mother breathing in her ear, and she breathed back in hers.

One of the ANBU stepped up to them, sounding worried. "What're we going to tell Hokage-sama?"

"That we were unable to rescue the jinchūriki," said the male. "This is our chance to get rid of that thing. We'll be lucky if they kill it."

Mayu wished with all her heart that she could get out of that horrible dark tunnel. She wanted to sleep in her mother's arms that night and forget that this had all ever happened. But she couldn't stop thinking about how Naruto had smiled up at her.

"What...what about Naruto?" she said in a small voice.

Her mother's hold on her body tightened. Mayu felt her heart beating rapidly against hers. And then her mother pulled away and stood up.

"I'm going after them."

"What are you talking about?" The male ANBU sounded confused. "You, of all people? This is what you've always wanted. Just leave the creature."

Her mother shook her head—and looked straight at Mayu. "What kind of ninja are we, if we abandon a child here?"

The male ANBU scoffed. "He's a monster!"

Her mother didn't say anything. Instead, she drew her sword, and then she was gone, swallowed up in the darkness of the tunnel.

Mayu was never sure about what happened next.

The other ANBU took Rai and left, but Mayu refused to leave without her mother. The male ANBU was on the verge of dragging her out of the tunnel, when he suddenly froze. She wondered what had happened—when it hit her, like a wave. She'd never felt chakra like this before. It was the most overwhelming, terrible thing she'd ever felt. It choked her, it covered her.

And then she saw him.

It was Naruto. He was coming back, alone. But there was something strange about him. There was a bright red shroud covering his entire body, and he walked on all fours like an animal.

Mayu hesitated. "Naruto...?"

The male ANBU shouted, "Get away from him! He'll kill you!"

She flinched back, and the male ANBU raced forward, holding his sword before him. He was going to kill Naruto—but then, faster than she could follow, a blur of red jumped into the air. There was a loud, terrible cracking sound, and she realized with a jolt that Naruto had bit into and broken the ANBU's neck. The man gurgled, his hands grasping belatedly at his ragged neck. His body twitched a few times, before slumping down.

The  _thing_  landed back in the water with a splash. Letting out a sob, Mayu tried to step back, but fell over instead.

 _It_  was drawing closer. The red shroud around its body swung back and forth like a tail. There was something dark dripping off of its face—it was the ANBU's blood.

"Where's my mom?" she cried. "What did you do?"

It was right before her now, and she could see its red, slit eyes. It looked at her, and she looked at it and she knew in her heart that she was looking in the face of a monster.

Something heavy struck her in the head and she felt herself fall over. She could hear muffled shouting in the distance. Her body was sinking into something warm and thick. And then everything turned black.

When Mayu opened her eyes again, her mother was dead, and her entire world had changed.

Rai couldn't remember anything. Having been knocked out, he'd missed the entire thing. The only indication that something had ever happened to him was a long, ropy scar on his face.

Ironically enough, Mayu escaped the incident physically unscathed. During her short stay in the hospital, she found herself surrounded by members of the Intelligence Division who asked her questions after questions. She didn't say much, only responding that she couldn't remember what had happened, until the Hokage himself came to her room and made them leave.

The day she was discharged, when she arrived at her house door, she stopped and knocked. Nobody answered, and after a while, she let herself in. Izumo wasn't there; she hadn't seen her brother since he'd visited her, red-eyed, in the hospital. The only thing left in the house was a stale cake.

It rained for days afterward, as though the skies themselves were crying. But Mayu couldn't cry anymore. The whole world had turned grey, and she didn't shed a single tear.

Years passed in that way.

Izumo stopped coming home, using his work as an excuse. It rained, and rained.

Eventually, Mayu graduated from the Academy. She was placed in the same team as the monster, and she knew that she was being punished by the heavens.

Their jōnin sensei gave them a test, and Mayu would have been content to fail if it meant she wouldn't have to be around the monster anymore. But the monster brought to her and Rai a plan, and it worked.

Their team began going on missions. Even though Mayu often lost her concentration in the monster's presence, it never lost its patience with her. It was intelligent and strong, and sometimes, she had to stop herself from admiring it.

One day, on a bodyguard mission, the monster killed several bandit men. It was expressionless about it, its face dripping with blood. Mayu had expected as much. Later that night, she passed by its wagon and heard a sound. Pulling out her kunai, she went inside—and saw the monster shaking in its sleep. It was having a nightmare. Its face looked younger than usual, more vulnerable.

Mayu wasn't so weak, however. She didn't let it deceive her.

But soon afterwards, the monster had to go and save someone. A young civilian boy. Without any regard for itself, the monster jumped in front of the boy and was hit by a shard of metal. It would have died, if it had been normal.

It turned out that Kakashi-sensei knew about the monster as well. He told her about how the monster was something called a jinchūriki and how a tailed beast had been sealed inside it as a baby.

That night, Mayu knelt by the monster's side. She could tell it was awake, and she heard their breathing synchronize in the darkness. She looked at its face for a long time. She held its hand, and she decided to give into the deception.

Things got easier after that.

It became he. The monster became Naruto.

She stopped flinching every time Naruto was near her. When Naruto praised her, she began to feel proud, and when he seemed disappointed in her, she trained harder. She started wondering about how Naruto was eating. She baked him a birthday cake, and she could tell that he didn't like it, but he ate it all without a word of complaint.

And then one evening, she found herself sitting at Ramen Ichiraku with the others. Kakashi-sensei was reading his adult books. She and Rai weren't arguing for once, and the three of them were digging into their bowls. Mayu finished first, and when she looked up, she caught sight of Naruto smiling faintly into his ramen.

Her chest throbbed.

Ichiraku buzzed with the sound of customers, and the store's glowing lanterns bobbed in the night breeze. The rich smell of miso ramen wafted out through the hanging flaps. Something wet and hot dripped down her face.

The world wasn't so grey after all, she thought.

* * *

As always, Rai was the first to notice.

They had reached the last of the trees, and the seemingly endless marshlands spread out before them. The others had already landed on the marsh ground, and right as Naruto was about to jump down, he saw Rai come to a screeching stop.

"Wait!" he cried out.

And then Naruto saw it—a blue feather, floating down through the air. When he reached out for it with his hand, the moment it touched his palm, a sudden influx of images rushed into his mind's eye.

The sound of wings flapped in the air above him, and he looked up just in time to see a bluebird soaring past the treetops, into the sky.

He blinked, and then it was gone.


	26. Lightless Struggle

It emerged from the roiling fog without warning: A great maw of a cave, built into the underside of a rocky cliff. There must have been something repelling the fog there, as a scattered system of smaller caves quickly came into view. At the moment, it appeared to be deserted and void of any activity. However, Naruto knew with certainty that just hours before, it had been crawling with sentries. True, there were signs here and there: scattered cigarette butts, and the whitened ashes of an old campfire. But moreover, he had seen it before—in his mind's eye.

By touching the feather of one of Mayu's bluebirds, Naruto had received an influx of its memories. Everything the bird had seen and heard since Naruto and his team had pretended to leave Wave country, was now a part of his own memory. It covered the events he had missed at the procession, including Jiraiya's clash with the three missing-nin. That particular memory continued to show Mayu and Tazuna being taken away by Kakuzu. The final memory was of his teammate, who seemed to have somehow escaped, defending herself against two assailants in the fog-covered marshlands.

Unfortunately, Sai's ink rats were unable to find Mayu in the vicinity. With time running out, their best hope was that she had been recaptured and was being held captive at Gatō's hideout.

Naruto felt a bead of sweat trickle down his brow. There was a simpler alternative to that possibility. Mayu had sent that bluebird to them for a reason; it had been a warning. But it seemed Mayu had not known Naruto as well as she must have thought, for he deliberately chose not to consider it.

As Naruto and the others crouched behind a cluster of shrubs, he glanced at Rai, who was regarding the hideout in silence. In the place of his usual chatter, he had not spoken once since Sai's ink rats had returned. Naruto could only imagine what thoughts were going through his head. Several minutes passed, and in a surge of impatience, Rai rose up and made a move to step forward. Blocking the way with his arm, Naruto shook his head—when two shadowy figures emerged from the cave's entrance.

"They're out there, alright. I can smell the money," said one.

"Hah?" The other raised his nose and sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything."

It was Kakuzu and Hidan, and at the sight of the latter, Naruto stiffened in surprise. In the bird's memory, he had seen Jiraiya inflicting horrific burns on Hidan scarcely hours beforehand. Now, the only signs it had ever happened were faint scarring.

Jiraiya appeared to be wondering the same thing. "Here I thought I'd finally rid the world of one of you crazies." Stepping past Naruto, he emerged from his hiding spot.

"Where's the jinchūriki?" Kakuzu asked, his pupil-less eyes slowly searching the area.

Jiraiya chuckled. "If you mean Naruto, he's on his way back home to Konoha."

"That's…unfortunate to hear."

"So if you'll just get out of my way, I'll take back the two you took from us, and be on my merry way. What do you think?"

"Enough with the banter," Kakuzu growled.

Naruto knew what was coming a split second before it happened—Kakuzu's hand shot out far past its reach, attached to its body by hundreds of thick black threads. It was how he had taken Mayu captive in the first place, at the procession.

Jiraiya bit into his finger and slammed his fist into the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu  _(Summoning Technique)_!"

The ground shook. From a cloud of hissing smoke, something gigantic and red emerged, towering high above their heads. The sound of keening metal rang in the air as Shirakumo drew his weapon. Meanwhile, ink splattered across Sai's open scroll and an ink lion roared into existence.

Before he left, Rai looked back at Naruto, and finally spoke: "It's in your hands." With that, he ran out to join the others.

Hidan let out an elated laugh. "One, two...three of you! Jashin-sama will be pleased with today's offering!"

It was time to get to work.

Stepping back, Naruto concentrated and felt the chakra in his body begin to vibrate. Electricity began crackling around his feet. Masking his presence in the confusion of the starting battle, he shot across the open ground towards the mouth of the cave—and he was in.

The plan they had put together was a simple one: While the others distracted the Akatsuki members, Naruto would look for Mayu and Tazuna. Once they were secured, their top priority was putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the missing-nin. It wasn't an ideal plan, and the risks were high, but the others (with perhaps the exception of Sai) had all readily gotten onboard.

Whereas the outside of Gatō's hideout had appeared to be completely abandoned, the inside was a different story. A large artificially excavated cavern teemed with several dozen armed men, and multiple tunnels led away to what was presumably the rest of the cave complex.

Naruto began to sprint, his hands coming together to perform the sign: "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu  _(Shadow Clone Technique)_!" In a single identical motion, he and his clones drew their tantō.

"Hey, what the - " The first man to notice broke off into a strangled gurgle.

His mind had been teeming with the chatter of a hundred questions before, but it was silent now. The only thing on his mind was a series of twisted faces jeering down at an unconscious body.

Sparks of electricity flashed. Spurts of bright blood splashed onto the cave walls, and twitching bodies fell to the ground. The armed men were genin-level at best; they were no match for Naruto and his clones, who made short work of them. Soon, there was only one man left. He was a short man in an expensive suit, and was the shipping magnate locally feared as Gatō. He had ruined the lives of many civilians, but none of that meant anything to Naruto. For him, Gatō was yet another body in his way.

The entire time, Gatō had been backed up against the farthest corner of the cavern. Naruto turned towards him now, and he let out a yelp. He scrabbled backwards, knocking his own glasses askew. His squinty eyes fearfully watched Naruto advancing toward him. The smell of fresh urine stained the air.

"W-wait! What do you want? If it's money, I have a lot of – "

Naruto slashed his tantō across the man's front, killing him. As the body crumpled to the floor, Naruto wiped the blade clean on its suit.

* * *

The salt marshlands of the Land of Waves were infamous for their ever-changing terrain. More than one luckless traveler had gone astray in the combined elements of fog and mud, and their souls were said to wander the land in search of their lost bodies.

The trail had gone cold for Kakashi's hounds; the only thing they'd been able to find was a single hair clip in the shape of a bluebird.

Tazuna fell to his knees. "That...that belongs to that young girl, doesn't it?"

Without responding, Kakashi lowered himself and stared at the ground. There were signs of a recent scuffle, with freshly turned dirt and broken reeds. He felt a glimmer of pride in his student; she had stood her ground against her opponents, whatever the outcome. What stood out to him most, however, was the sheen of ice covering the earth. While it seemed to be of ninjutsu origin, it was not one native to Wave country: Clearly, outside forces were at work.

Suddenly, the ground trembled. A flock of squawking marshbirds took off from a nearby shrub.

Tensing, Kakashi straightened up. Was it an earthquake? Or a battle of immense proportions? It was difficult to be conclusive with the fog limiting his visibility. Still, he had to wonder what else was occurring in these marshlands.

A massive sword spiraled through the air, cutting through the fog before burying itself blade-first in the ground. In a flicker of movement, a bare-chested ninja appeared, resting on the handle of the sword.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. If he wasn't mistaken...

"If it isn't the missing-nin from the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza."

"I assume you're Kakashi of the Sharingan," said Zabuza. "I'll have you hand over that old man."

Tazuna turned pale. "If that's the case, why did you all let me go in the first place?!"

"Let you go?" The missing-nin cocked his head. "My orders were to recapture all escapees, dead or alive. How you escaped is none of my concern."

Had Kakashi known he would be clashing against a ninja of Zabuza's caliber, he would never have brought a civilian with him. It was his careless mistake that put an innocent's life at risk—and to correct it, he knew that his usual self wouldn't be enough. Making up his mind, he raised his hitai-ate, revealing the swirling tomoe in his left eye.

"Your opponent is me."

* * *

Naruto and his clones each took a separate passageway leading away from the main cavern. The tunnels were man-made and lit by fluorescent lighting; they interconnected in a seemingly random pattern that reminded Naruto of the second test in the Chūnin exam. His search was systematic. As he picked off any stragglers who had not been in the main cavern, he mentally crossed out the passageways he had already checked.

This room was empty. This tunnel was a dead-end. This room was also empty. And here was a dead-end. And another.

Naruto could feel his heart growing heavier and his focus giving way to a darker, lurking emotion. He was starting to wonder how high the tunnels ran, when with a jolt, one of his shadow clone's memories flooded his mind: Someone had sneaked up on it. It continued as one after the other, his clones were taken out. Right before his his last clone disappeared, Naruto saw in its memories a blur of movement—and then he was standing alone in the tunnel.

He heard it before he saw it: The subtle, almost indiscernible whistling of metal flying through air. Spinning around, Naruto brought up his tantō just in time to knock away what looked like several long needles— _senbon_. They were followed by a kick that spiraled down at him, which he blocked with his forearm before thrusting his tantō forward. His assailant leaned back, allowing the blade to swing harmlessly above his chest. Then, using Naruto's arm as a springboard, he flipped backwards through the air.

Taking in the ninja before him, Naruto realized two things in quick succession. One was that he wore the typical white mask of a hunter-nin from the Hidden Mist. The second was his right hand, which was swollen and grey in color: It was poisoned. In a flash, he saw in his mind's eye one of Mayu's poisonous birds swooping down and pecking at a dark figure.

He had been mentally preparing himself for a fight with one of the three S-ranked missing-nin. He knew nothing about this ninja, or about what kind of circumstances had brought a Kiri hunter-nin all the way to Gatō's hideout.

None of that mattered.

Sending a stream of wind chakra down his blade, Naruto struck.

* * *

As the chief toad of Mount Myōboku, while Gamabunta's giant size could dwarf even mountains, it had no bearing on his speed. With Jiraiya perched on his head, the chief's long tongue lashed out at a punishing pace, causing the earth to quake with every blow.

Their opponent, however, was a freak even by Akatsuki's standards. Gamabunta's initial attack had ripped the man's body apart in two, only for the two halves to re-join themselves using the same thick tendrils that had connected his arm to his body. Now, Kakuzu's entire body had darkened in color, and Gamabunta's attacks were no longer having as much of an effect.

Evading another blow that sent tremors through the ground, Kakuzu suddenly threw himself into the air. Black tendrils from his arms bulleted straight towards Jiraiya, and before he could react, the threads wrapped themselves around his feet. The surface below him gave way, and he was hurled off the chief toad's head. Wasting no time, Kakuzu arched back and unleashed a massive blast of searing fire in his direction.

Jiraiya didn't have to look back to know that the others, along with Hidan, were fighting behind him; if he didn't block the fireball, it was powerful enough to consume them all. It seemed that Kakuzu felt little sense of camaraderie for his fellow partner.

"Bunta!"

In response to his cry, Gamabunta's body swelled up. Just as the toad expelled a torrent of water towards the fireball, Jiraiya blew out: "Fūton: Gufū  _(Wind Release: Twister)_!"

A tornado twisted around the torrent, producing a cyclone that collided into the fireball. Even then, it wasn't strong enough to dispel it, splitting it instead into two walls of fire that veered off in different directions—one disappeared into the fog of the marshlands, and the other slammed into the mountainside.

"Kakuzu, you bastard!" He heard Hidan howl. "You almost hit me!"

* * *

A deadly rain of icicles slammed into the ground where Naruto had been standing a split second before. As the fluorescent lights flickered above them, dust rained down from the ceiling and spidery cracks appeared in the tunnel walls.

The hunter-nin was as small in stature as Naruto, and he had a suspicion that their ages weren't too far apart. However, he had never before met someone his age who could keep up with him in speed—let alone push him to this extent. Moreover, even though the hunter-nin only had the use of his left hand, this did not seem to deter from his ability to perform seals in the slightest.

Nonetheless, judging from the sounds of battle coming from outside, Naruto did not have much more time to waste. He had to finish this quickly, before anyone else got hurt.

The two exchanged several more blows, neither giving way—when Naruto's tantō glanced against the swollen hand of the hunter-nin, who visibly jerked in pain. Seizing the chance, he directed a roundhouse kick at the other male which made contact, the impact sending his body spinning through the air. Electricity surged painfully about his feet, and Naruto and three of his shadow clones shot forward, a tantō raised in each hand, ready to impale the hunter-nin in from all directions –

And then all of a sudden, coming in through the far end of the tunnel, a seething column of fire spiraled towards them, consuming everything in its path.

There wasn't enough time. Naruto's momentum was carrying him forward, straight into the path of the fire. Did he know any jutsu that was powerful enough to counter it? Already, he could hear the roar and feel the heat on his face, but frantically, his mind raced through a dozen different things he could do –

"Hyōton: Hyōgan Dōmu  _(Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome)_!"

The air around Naruto crackled, and everything around him was consumed in fire.

* * *

Things were not looking good.

Shirakumo was already dead; he had succumbed to a bizarre jutsu that connected Hidan's body to his. The jōnin's body lay crumpled on the ground, blood still seeping from the hole in his chest.

Panting, Rai flipped back and warily regarded the missing-nin, who currently wore an expression of utter ecstasy. He had known it, but Hidan was strong. Overwhelmingly strong. He had grown stronger since their time in Yugakure.

Even Sai seemed to understand the trouble they were in; he hadn't cracked a single insult since the battle had begun.

"Isn't it about time you made yourself useful?" Sai panted.

Well, it'd been a good run.

"I don't see you doing anything either," Rai snapped back.

Hidan kissed an amulet that hung around his neck and his black and white skin returned to its original color. Rai shot a look back up at Gatō's hideout, but it was quiet. He had to assume Naruto was still searching for Mayu and Tazuna. In the meantime, it was their job to keep Hidan busy.

Ink birds began to dive in Kamikaze-style, exploding around Hidan. Rai drew his kunai blades from his back, the chains connecting the dual blades clanking dully.

That day in Yugakure, Rai had been knocked out before he could do anything. Naruto had gotten most of the glory then, as he usually did, and Rai had sworn to himself that he would get his revenge.

Hidan had grown stronger, but he hadn't spent the past few years idly either.

* * *

The fireball that had consumed the tunnel sputtered away into nothing, and Naruto stared up at the dome of ice that protected both him and the hunter-nin. If he wasn't mistaken, it had just saved his life. But why?

As he watched, the dome disappeared, and Naruto lowered his gaze. The hunter-nin, panting in exertion, stood well within his reach.

The fireball had been the final blow; the tunnel ceiling had collapsed in, and amidst the rubble, they now stood exposed to the outside air. The sun had set while he was inside the hideout, and he found himself awash in the glow of moonlight. The shouts of battle echoed in the distance; the earth rumbled from the movements of Jiraiya's toad summon.

For the first time, the hunter-nin spoke. "The girl...was she one of yours?" His voice was higher than Naruto had expected.

"She did that to your hand." It wasn't a question.

"…Yes."

"Where is she?"

The hunter-nin didn't respond, and in his silence, Naruto knew. In that moment, as though he had been doused in ice cold water, everything became clear.

Powering his feet with chakra, he thrust his tantō forward. The hunter-nin jerked back in surprise—a fraction too late. The blade cleaved straight through his swollen arm. Yellow pus and dark blood burst out as the severed limb fell away, splattering Naruto's face. Staggering back, the hunter-nin let out a piercing scream and as though heeding his call, a blast of icy air began emanating from his body. His scream morphed into the sound of crackling frost, and before he knew it, Naruto found himself trapped in another dome. This time, it was made out of mirrored ice.

The sky grew thick with grey clouds and the moonlight faded. It began to snow.

* * *

Though Zabuza had disappeared into the mist, Kakashi could sense the thick bloodthirst churning in the vicinity. He knew what was coming. 'Silent killing'—it was one of the most feared assassination techniques. He didn't fear for his own life, however. The greater risk was to Tazuna. Though the older man's composure up to this point was remarkable, his fear was becoming increasingly tangible.

"Don't worry, Tazuna-san," said Kakashi, making a reassuring smile. "You're in my charge now. I won't let you die."

It was then that Zabuza chose to strike.

"I wonder about that…"

Seemingly out of nowhere, the missing-nin materialized behind Tazuna, raising his sword to deliver the finishing blow—but Kakashi had been waiting. His Sharingan glowing, he turned around and plunged his kunai straight into the man's chest.

It was not blood but water that dripped down the handle and fell to the ground.

Another Zabuza emerged from the mist behind Kakashi, and the water clone he had struck instead melted away. Letting out a roar, Zabuza swung his sword in a formidable arc, cleaving Kakashi's body cleanly in two. For a moment, his eyes gleamed with triumph—which then turned into confusion, as the jōnin's body also melted away into water.

"Don't move." Kakashi held a kunai to the missing-nin's neck, his Sharingan fixed on his target. "It's over."

And yet, Zabuza looked far from defeated. "Clever… You used your Sharingan to mimic my Hiding in Mist technique. But if you think that's enough, you're sorely mistaken."

Once more, another Zabuza materialized behind them. Kakashi stiffened in alarm as the clone he'd been holding hostage dissipated—it had been a trick within a trick—before raising his steel-plated gloves up just in time to block the coming blow.

They stood at a standstill, sword grinding against steel. Their bodies shook from the tremendous force being put in on both ends—and then they burst apart, each leaping away from the other. As Kakashi landed, he felt something cold and wet land on the tip of his nose. It took him a second to process what it was.

_Snow…?_

For some reason, the snow seemed to give Zabuza pause. When he moved again, he was visibly shaken, and Kakashi seized the opportunity. As the missing-nin raised a hand into the air to start his technique, Kakashi mirrored his motion. Before the other could react, the jōnin's hands blurred, finishing the jutsu he had been about to start:

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu  _(Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique)_!"

Zabuza reeled back in shock. A muddy vortex of water rose up and claimed him.

* * *

The earlier fight against Shirakumo must have drained Hidan more than Rai had expected, for the missing-nin's movements seemed sluggish. As Sai provided backup, they eventually managed to corner the missing-nin. With a lunge, Rai drove his kunai blade into Hidan's back, twisting it deep into his heart.

Any ordinary person would have been long dead by now, but Hidan looked irritated instead. "I've told you, it's useless." Reaching back, he grabbed Rai and forcefully hurled him into the air.

Flying backwards, the chain connecting Rai's blades clinked in the wind and suddenly, it gave him an idea.

It all happened in an instant. Even as Sai's ink snakes swarmed him, Hidan lobbed his scythe after Rai. It whistled through the air, its three blades gleaming.

He had a choice to make, and he made it. Even as the scythe plunged into his own chest, Rai used his remaining strength to throw his remaining kunai blade back at Hidan.

Momentarily immobilized, Hidan watched the chains wrap tightly around his body, the blade still lodged in his back acting as a anchor. Finally, the chains ran out and the swinging kunai blade sliced straight through Hidan's neck, decapitating him.

_Let's see you recover from that._

Rai grinned—and his body hit the ground.

* * *

By the time the water released Zabuza, slamming him against the ground and receding from around his body, the missing-nin was spent. Kakashi held a kunai to his neck and at last, Zabuza bowed his head in defeat.

"It's over," Kakashi said coldly. "Now tell me: Where are my students?"

Zabuza's face twisted. He opened his mouth –

Two kunai slammed into his neck, hitting his vital points in a splash of blood. The man didn't stand a chance; he was dead before Kakashi could even grasp what was going on. Alarmed, he immediately turned in the direction the kunai had come from. He had not noticed the presence of anyone else, and yet there, in the creeping fog –

A figure in an orange mask stared down at Kakashi.

_Who the hell is that...?!_

* * *

The hunter-nin's reflection surrounded Naruto on all sides, the white masks looming down at him. Every reflection gripped the bloody stump of its arm and gritted out in an echo, "You can't escape...not from my mirrors."

Once more, Naruto heard the shrill sound of metal as dozens of needle  _senbon_  filled the air. This time, there were too many to counter. Even as he batted away the majority with his tantō, several broke through his guard, cutting through his cheeks and legs.

It was curious how, despite the grim situation, Naruto didn't feel the slightest trace of fear. He hadn't realized it, but his mind had been growing dull with doubt like an unsharpened blade, ever since he had left Konoha for Wave country. All that was gone now. There was a razor sharpness in its place, and he knew exactly what to do next.

Opening his guard, Naruto brought his hands together to form a seal. Even as a dozen needles pierced his newly exposed arms, with a cloud of smoke, several shadow clones appeared and immediately began to guard him. Metal met metal in the background. Ignoring the pain, Naruto focused on the churning ball of chakra forming in the palm of his hand.

He had thought that combining both shape and nature transformation was an impossible task, like trying to look in two different directions at once. In the new clarity of his mind, he realized now that his mistake had been in focusing too much on a single direction. He didn't have to look in two directions at the same time; he only had to widen his perspective.

The tightly focused ball in his hand spun wildly. Strong gusts of wind began to spiral out. Stepping forward, Naruto slammed his Rasengan into the mirrors, and with an earsplitting sound, they shattered into thousands of ice particles.

When the air had cleared, the hunter-nin lay unconscious on the ground. For a moment, Naruto held the blade of his tantō against the other ninja's neck, thinking. Then, he let his blade drop away.

Leaving the hunter-nin's body behind, Naruto began to make his way down to the cliff's base.

He could acknowledge it now: Neither Mayu nor Tazuna were here. It was time to come to terms with the fact that, despite their best efforts, they were going to come out of this empty-handed...

The first thing Naruto saw was Shirakumo's body, still warm to the touch. He checked its pulse, and reaching a negative, stood up.

And then he saw it: There, illuminated in the moonlight, was another body.

His heart pounding in his ears, Naruto felt the last of the air in his lungs leave in a slow exhale.

* * *

"Rai!"

At the sound of Naruto's voice, Rai stirred. He had been fighting to stay awake long enough to wait for him. There was something heavy weighing him down, and he struggled to lift his head. The clouds must have covered the moon again, for everything was dark.

"Mayu?" he asked.

_Did you find her?_

There was a pause.

"I found her. She's right here."

Intense relief flooded what Rai could still feel of his limbs. Tears welling up in his eyes, he let his head fall back.

He knew he had lost too much blood. The darkness was coming for him.

He had no regrets. He had fulfilled his duty to his village. He had gotten his revenge for Yugakure. And with Naruto around, Mayu would be safe. He had no regrets.

No—that wasn't exactly right. He did have one regret left...

_Shit... I wish I could've seen Kakashi-sensei's face at least once._

Rai let out a rattling laugh, and with that, he died.


	27. The Roar in a Rain of Tears

Another moonlit night swept across the tiled rooftops of Konoha. As always, the village blissfully slumbered under the ever-watchful eye of the ANBU.

It was also another late night for the Hokage, who was finishing up the day's paperwork. Just as he had scrawled his signature across a trade permit, he paused his pen; he could sense someone heading straight for his office. A moment later, a red-haired ninja using the Body Flicker Technique appeared in the space before him.

From the disheveled appearance and the smell, Naruto looked as though he hadn't bathed in days. More importantly, he was alone, when Hiruzen had received a messenger bird from Kakashi informing him that the whole team was on their way back.

"Naruto, where's the rest of your team?" asked Hiruzen.

"I'm a clone," said Naruto. "I wanted to know why you sent that missive to Team Shirakumo telling us to stay in Wave country."

Alarms started going off in Hiruzen's head. "If such a missive was sent out, it was not under my authority. Naruto, what is going on?"

The hard look in Naruto's eyes told Hiruzen that this had only confirmed the boy's suspicions.

"I'm guessing someone intercepted my messenger birds. They must have also forged your seal on a fake missive to keep our teams in Wave country. I tried getting here as fast as I could, but I had to conserve chakra... I'm going to report back. I - " The clone broke off. His eyes widening, he fell to his knees.

In a cloud of smoke, he disappeared.

* * *

Slowly, Naruto rose to his feet.

Everything was very still. And larger, as though magnified. Or was it his senses instead?

Taking in his surroundings, he surmised in an instant what had happened. While Naruto had fought the hunter-nin, Shirakumo had died trying to take down Hidan, and to finish the job, Rai had paid with his life. Further out, Naruto could see yet another body—Sai?—but his chest alone moved up and down, breathing.

"Kakuzu, you bastard, where are you! Come back here and bring me my body!"

It was Hidan's head, sitting at least a dozen yards away from its body. Impossibly, Hidan seemed to have survived even a beheading.

The earth shook and in a daze, Naruto looked up. Snow drifted serenely down from the sky as a raging battle played out in the background: Jiraiya faced off against Kakuzu, and what appeared to be four black humanoid masses.

It didn't seem right to Naruto. His teammates were no longer here. And yet the world continued to move.

Some of the snow that had been falling had melted, and the ground shimmered with water. Naruto caught a glimpse of his reflection: Despite the sensations struggling for dominance in his mind, his face was a blank canvas. Droplets of blood rolled off his chin and landed in the water, dyeing it red, and his reflection disappeared.

This quiet, burning sensation… He had never felt like this before.

No—that wasn't quite right. He had felt it once before. He could remember now. It had happened years ago and the memory of it had been forcibly taken from him. But it was all coming back.

 _Everything was fuzzy and dim. He could hear the sound of running water._ _The back of his head throbbed, where they had struck him._ _He wondered where his captors were taking him. He wished he had remembered to wear his scarf to cover his face. Maybe all this wouldn't have been happening, then._

_There was someone still fighting his captors. He didn't know who it was. They were strong, and several of his captors groaned and fell to the ground. Eventually however, his captors managed to put a sword through their chest. The person collapsed, and their mask fell off._

_With a jolt, he saw the face of the woman who slammed bowls of rice down on his table everyday. She had never had a kind word for him before and yet she had fought for him._

_Now, she was gone._

_Something inside him snapped. Everything he had ever felt in his short life came together into a single, black emotion. It seethed and roiled. It wanted release. His vision was turning red. A guttural sound filled the tunnel, and he soon realized it was coming from him._

_The next thing he heard was the sounds of his captors' screaming. Before long, bodies floated facedown at his feet in a river of blood._

Back in the present, Naruto opened his eyes.

An immense metal gate loomed before him. Something huge and dark lurked behind it; a single seal on the gate doors blocked its escape. He knew it was the only thing preventing the demon it held captive from devouring him.

"So you've finally come to me of your own will," A deep voice filled his head. "What changed?"

"There's nothing holding me back anymore," said Naruto.

The demon roared in laughter. "You finally understand."

A wave of dark, tainted chakra surged out from between the bars of the demon's cage and entered Naruto. He felt his depleted chakra reserves fill up to the brim—and then some more, as it overflowed and enveloped his entire body. He had never felt so much chakra before—it almost felt as though it was eating away at his own body.

Naruto was the jinchūriki of the Nine-tails. He had carried its burden in ignorance for many years, and upon his revelation, tried to deny it. Though he hadn't wanted to admit it, he had been afraid of the consequences. But all that was gone. There was nothing he had left to lose.

Now, he decided, it was time to embrace it.

* * *

"Forget about me!" Tazuna yelled. "Just go!"

Kakashi hesitated. More than anything, he wanted to investigate the source of the ground tremors—he could feel it in his gut that it was linked to his team's disappearance. But after all that he'd done to defend the old bridge-builder from Zabuza, he couldn't leave him there by himself. Nor did it seem like a good idea to bring him along.

After a moment's thought, Kakashi summoned back his  _ninken_  pack.

"Take him to safety," he instructed his hounds.

In agitation, Tazuna bobbed his head. "I'll be fine! Your students need you!"

He nodded. With a final look back at Zabuza's still body, he left.

As Kakashi ran alone through the fog, the ghostly image of the masked man who had killed Zabuza floated into his mind. He had disappeared before Kakashi could give chase, leaving behind only questions. The strange thing was, even though it was his first time seeing the man, he had a sinking feeling it wouldn't be their last.

The marshlands passed quickly. As the air grew colder, the tremors grew more pronounced. He knew that he was drawing close. He could only pray that he wasn't too late.

* * *

Kakuzu couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a bad day, and he had lived a long life. It didn't rank quite as high as the day he'd returned to his village following his failed assassination attempt on the first Hokage—nothing ever would—but it was up there. It didn't help that once again, he was battling for his life against a Leaf-nin.

It rankled that he was even here. While Jiraiya's head would have made an excellent trophy, Kakuzu would have preferred to fight him on a stage of his own choosing. No, the only reason he was here at all was because of the Leader's orders:

_Don't lay a hand on the jinchūriki._

_Capture the jinchūriki's teammates._

_Kill everyone but the jinchūriki._

Easier said than done, when the jinchūriki kept popping up in his vicinity and when 'everyone' included one of the Sannin. Kakuzu knew that the Nine-tails had to be extracted last—so why go after its jinchūriki at all at this time? What was the point?

Nonetheless, he carried out his orders without question, even while that bastard Hidan was talking his ear off with his complaining. He trusted that the Leader always knew what he was doing. Still—he couldn't shake off the sense that there was someone else pulling the strings, pushing around Kakuzu as a pawn in their game.

Suddenly, Kakuzu was yanked out of his thoughts when the sage froze, halting his assault. And then Kakuzu felt it too.

A wave of vile chakra blasted into the air. It was powerful enough that the force of it alone blew away the fog in their vicinity. Kakuzu immediately spotted the source: It was the Nine-tails' jinchūriki, surrounded in a translucent shroud that he recognized as the tailed-beast's chakra. Four tails, made out of the same vile chakra, churned wildly at his back.

The Seven-tails' jinchūriki they had captured had resorted to using this power too, before they overpowered her.

With a stab of annoyance, he wondered whether Hidan had violated the Leader's orders and attacked the jinchūriki. Kakuzu's battle against Jiraiya had not afforded him many chances to check in on how his idiot partner was doing.

Then, he saw the headless body.

"Oi, Kakuzu!" the head howled.

As he watched, two of the jinchūriki's chakra tails picked up the body and ripped it apart with ease. The remaining tails picked up the screaming head and slammed it down with a force that split the ground in two.

_Well, there goes another partner._

* * *

Powerful gales of wind accompanied every swing of the beast's tails. The sheer force of its chakra warmed the atmosphere, causing the snow to melt into a shower of rain.

To Jiraiya, its overwhelming chakra seemed to be the very embodiment of nature. It was hard to believe this demon was Naruto.

No—he mentally corrected himself. This was the Nine-tails emerging from Naruto. Somehow, the seal had weakened enough for it to physically manifest itself.

The beast turned its hate-filled gaze on Gamabunta. Its tails whipped through the air toward them and Gamabunta braced himself, ready to return the blow—when the tails arched around them and slammed instead into Kakuzu. The missing-nin, who had been on the verge of striking an unsuspecting Jiraiya, bulleted down through the rain and crashed into the wet ground. Torrents of mud flew in every direction as his body continued to bowl through the earth, leaving behind a long, uninterrupted strip in his wake.

Stunned, Jiraiya watched the beast let out a deafening howl that shook the skies.

* * *

The moment Kakashi felt the Nine-tails' chakra surge through the marshland and blow away the fog, he braced himself for the worst. And yet, nothing could have prepared him for the scene of carnage that met his arrival: At the base of a cliff, bodies with all too familiar faces littered the muddy ground. It was an image that brought back painful memories of the Third World War.

His colleague and fellow veteran, Shirakumo. A crater with a body mangled beyond recognition.

And Rai. His student. His eyes were still open, staring glassily up at the grey sky.

The day he had first met his genin team flashed in his mind:

_"You can tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies, your dreams." When nobody answered, Kakashi sighed and gestured towards a genin with a scar running down his face. "How about you go first?"_

_The boy scowled. "The name's Hagane Rai. My goal is to become the best weapons specialist in Konoha. And...I hate being ordered around!"_

The sound of rain filled his ears. As he watched the droplets hit the boy's still face, Kakashi's heart grew heavy. It seemed like it was only yesterday, when his team had passed the bell test.

The air crackled. A blood-red ball of chakra shot through the sky and slammed into the cliff with a thunderous explosion. Breaking off from the point of impact, giant boulders began sliding down, crashing into the ground.

* * *

"Gamayudan  _(Toad Oil Bomb)_!"

A mass of murky oil burst through the air, coating the rampaging beast. Jiraiya followed by directing his spiky white hair to wrap itself tightly around the beast, dragging it down to the ground. For a moment it seemed to work—and then with another roaring surge of chakra, it burst out of its bindings. Infuriated, the beast switched its attention from Jiraiya, who was forced to dodge out of the way.

Kakuzu seemed to have had enough, taking this as a window of opportunity to escape. Jiraiya saw out of the corner of his eye as the hulking missing-nin leaped backwards and flickered away in a puff of smoke.

"Jiraiya-sama!" shouted a voice.

A familiar silver-haired ninja appeared, gently setting down three bodies beside a shrub.

Jiraiya did a double-take. "Is that you, Kakashi? Did Sarutobi-sensei send you?"

Kakashi stood, his infamous Sharingan standing out starkly in his left eye. "It's...a long story."

* * *

It was as though he was viewing everything from a distance, through a red haze. He was in control of his body, and at the same time, he was watching his own body move.

Hidan was dead, or at least crushed beyond repair, and Kakuzu seemed to have disappeared. His enemies were gone and Naruto knew he had already achieved his objective. And yet, it wasn't enough. There was a void deep in his chest that he didn't know how to fill.

He could feel his body thrashing about, itching with the desire to be put into action. To go somewhere—anywhere—and not come back. Only, there was nowhere to go. He had longed to leave Wave country and return to Konoha. But there was nothing for him there anymore.

The marshlands stretched out into infinity behind him while to his front, past the edge of the cliff, he could see a dark sheet of water—it was the sea, disappearing into the horizon. He wondered what lay beyond there.

Pushing back, he readied himself to propel his body forward and –

"Naruto!" a faraway voice shouted.

It took a moment to process that it was his name being called. Naruto blinked—and all of a sudden, Kakashi stood beside him in his mind. His left eye glowed red; he had activated the sharingan. Naruto took an involuntary step back. He had seen Kakashi use it sparingly in battle, but never before like this.

The Nine-tails let out a growl. "You...you're not an Uchiha..."

Ignoring the beast, Kakashi turned towards Naruto. "What's going on here? Where's Mayu?" Naruto didn't respond, and the jōnin's face turned solemn. "Come back, Naruto. This isn't the answer."

"What would you know, sensei?" The part of Naruto that was still rational knew it wasn't Kakashi's fault. But bitter words were coming out of his mouth, like vomit, and he couldn't hold them back. "It's not like you were here when everyone died."

Kakashi drew a sharp breath. "I'm sorry I wasn't here. I came as quickly as I could."

For some reason, the apology only made him angrier. "It doesn't matter anymore. I've failed my mission, my team is gone. There's nothing for me to care about anymore. Do you know how that feels?"

"I do," said Kakashi.

Taken aback despite himself, Naruto stopped.

The jōnin's gaze, while trained on Naruto, seemed to be focused on something far away. "I also lost my team, in the world war. Obito and Rin... They're gone, because of my failures."

"Ignore him," the Nine-tails snarled. "He's only trying to confuse you."

It would have been all too easy to do as the Nine-tails said. It was tempting enough that Naruto almost gave into it.

But as he considered Kakashi's words, he could feel his anger seeping away. And in its place, he started to remember things.

He thought of his first day at the Academy, when he had felt like the only person in the world. He thought of the day he first killed as a genin, and fell asleep to the rocking of the wagon.

He thought of his birthday, in which Mayu baked a too sweet cake and Kakashi presented him with a tantō. He thought of the Chūnin exams, looking up at a dark ceiling and Rai asking if he was awake. He thought of Mayu calling down to him in his fight against Fū. He thought of their team, sitting down at Ichiraku's after a hard mission and ordering extra garlic with their ramen.

At the time, these moments had not seemed so precious to him. Only now that they were gone, did he understand.

Something in his chest throbbed, and Naruto clutched it. He could feel the void there, but he couldn't reach it.

"How do you deal with it, sensei?"

"You fool!" howled the Nine-tails.

Kakashi inclined his head. "We endure."

* * *

The beast that had been bristling suddenly seemed to shrivel up before his eyes. Its baleful eyes dimming, it shrank in size, and finally, as the red demon shroud smoldered away into nothing, Jiraiya jumped forward to catch Naruto's body in midair. The body, as scratched and beaten-up as it was, seemed almost lifeless. However, Jiraiya could feel his heart beating in a steady rhythm, and for that, he was thankful.

As he walked back, he saw Kakashi kneel and close the eyes of the chūnin boy. Standing up, the jōnin bowed his head in prayer.

Jiraiya somberly looked down at Naruto's still face, and then around at their surroundings. At some point in the night, the rain had stopped. The sun was rising, bleaching the sky in its vivid colors.

It was a new day.

* * *

Kakuzu didn't call it running away. He called it a tactical retreat.

The Sannin had been enough trouble on his own. With the jinchūriki rampaging and then the Copy Ninja showing up to the battle, he had made the executive decision that it was high time he left the country— _sans_  his irritating partner.

He had finally reached the forest, when without warning, he sensed someone following him.

"Kakuzu-san! Kakuzu-san!"

It was a high-pitched voice that Kakuzu despised from the bottom of his many hearts. Turning back, sure enough, he saw an orange mask gaining on him.

"What is it?" he grunted.

"You sure high-tailed it out of there," said Tobi in a cheery voice.

"If you were worth the slightest bit of money, I'd kill you."

"That doesn't sound likely! Unless...the Leader makes me your next partner." Tobi began to sound worried. "That'd be dangerous, considering how quickly you go through them."

"I'd be doing the world a favor, getting rid of you." Kakuzu paused, fully taking in Tobi's appearance. He was carrying something large on his back and suddenly, he wondered what the man he regarded as the Leader's Big Mistake was even doing there.

Tobi must have noticed him watching. It was difficult to tell through the mask, but to Kakuzu, it almost seemed as though he was smiling.

"Don't worry. This isn't anything you need to concern yourself about."

* * *

Somehow, the Hokage had already gotten wind of the fiasco in Wave country. By the time Kakashi and the others returned to the safe house, there were several ANBU ops scouting the perimeter.

With the help of the reinforcements from Konoha, the matter was quickly wrapped up: The Wave country's daimyō and his children were returned to their vassals. Shirakumo's genin team was informed of his passing. A sallow-looking woman was transported back to the village for further interrogation. A search party was sent out to retrieve Mayu's body, only to return empty-handed.

Finally, the rest returned home.

The day after their return, a funeral service was held. Half the village turned up, the procession led by Mayu and Rai's older brothers and Shirakumo's grieving daughter. Knowing their history, Kakashi had half expected Izumo to blame Naruto—but with tears streaming freely down his face, the chūnin seemed lost in his own inner conflict.

Shirakumo's genin team was there, along with many of the other genins. At the mention of Rai's name in the Hokage's funeral address, a young kunoichi with Chinese-style buns burst into tears.

And then it was over.

That day, a somber pallor seemed to have been temporarily cast over the village; shutters were drawn, and lights were dimmed. As the skies grew dark, everyone returned to their homes, turning in early for the night.

All, except for one.

From a distance, Kakashi watched Naruto stand before the memorial stone, to which three names had been newly added.

The next day, Jiraiya approached Kakashi with a proposal to take Naruto along on a journey. Once given the choice, Naruto thought over it for a few minutes, before giving his answer.

* * *

Somewhere hidden deep in the depths of Konoha, the members of the underground organization Root gathered before their leader, Danzō.

Most people were not even aware of its existence. Under the orders of the Third Hokage, Root had officially disbanded following the downfall of the Uchiha clan. However, to this day, the organization continued to operate in secret as the unseen force supporting the great tree of Konoha.

One of its members kneeled before Danzō now, having finished his report. He had been sent to Wave country as part of the jinchūriki's team to keep an eye on his activity. However, his report was incomplete: The operative had been knocked unconscious halfway through the final battle. The only other witnesses present for the remainder of the battle, Jiraiya and Kakashi, were staunchly loyal to Hiruzen, leaving Danzō to grasp in the dark as to what had occurred. It was an unfortunate turn of events, especially given the operative's previously spotless track record. It was his first failure.

Perhaps that was the reason why, while giving his report, the operative seemed uncharacteristically distracted.

After dismissing the operative, Danzō stood by himself in the darkness, thinking.

Whatever had happened in Wave country, it made little difference in the end. No matter what Hiruzen said, he was not stupid enough to trust the jinchūriki to stay loyal to the Leaf. He had heard reports that the jinchūriki would soon be leaving the village again for an extended period of time, and it was clear to Danzō that Hiruzen was growing soft in his old age.

As he considered his next move, Danzō regarded his right arm with a baleful glare. He would bide his time for now. But sooner or later, the Nine-tails' power would be his.

* * *

On the morning of their departure, just as they reached the gate, Naruto stopped. He turned around and gazed up at the stone faces of the Hokage Monument, before closing his eyes.

As the sun's glow warmed his face, he could hear the other villagers streaming past him, the chatter of their daily life resounding in his ears.

"...market prices have gone up lately..."

"...going to meet my uncle in Tea country..."

"...a cake for her birthday..."

His eyes opened. Turning back around, he saw Jiraiya waiting for him.

Naruto took a step forward. And another.

And then, walking through the gates, he left Konoha behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This marks the end of the Wave arc.

**Author's Note:**

> For the rest of the chapters, please see my fanfiction page:  
> fanfiction.net/u/1733848/PK-Samurai


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